Wedding Feast Joy

The day is done. I won’t get this up to my blog for another day because Kathleen and I have relocated to one of the Bridges of Love Team’s home near the Bedouin camp. Up to this time we have been traveling back and forth each night from Beirut. It takes about an hour and 20 minutes to cover 50km. Back and forth, up and down, start and stop, HONK! HONK!, no traffic lights, no lanes, many check points, . . . and about 4 million other vehicles in similar motion.

So the day after the day doing loops between the bed and the bathroom went okay. I woke up feeling feverish but at least the stomach had settled down and I was good to go for the day. I remember distinctly waking up to a deep yearning for a piece of toast with some butter. Not a toaster or loaf in sight. Every piece of bread here has a weird shape and it would be sin to attempt to toast any of it, I’m sure. I never accomplished much today for the team but I was vertical and walking. Jordan dehan!

I had many people praying for me and I was so grateful. I’m writing this at the end of the day and I don’t think I have any symptoms right now. Wow! Thank you Lord!

I’ve been thinking a lot about what we are doing here and wonder about our North American ideas of compassion. Do we have compassion that’s birthed out of pity on those who have far less than us? Or is our compassion of another form? One that sees suffering in a fellow human and we choose to serve that person out of respect? Respect or pity?

I think our general way is pity until you come face to face with that other human being that is suffering in some way (in our limited perception of suffering, these people would not see themselves as suffering) and you come to know them, their hopes and dreams, and in that encounter you begin to see that they are far greater than you. They are far more adjusted to the circumstances of life around them that you ever would be. They have far more faith for their daily needs than you have, and they have far more love and compassion to give away than you have. You come to have a great deal of respect for them and out of that sense their greatness.

I think Philippians 2:1-5 corrects all our thinking on this matter. It states that as we come into a full realization of the unity that we have been given in Christ, and having experienced the comfort of His love, and have come to deeply know His tenderness and compassion, that we are compelled, not by duty but by a deep seated desire to do likewise to absolutely every person we encounter. (Freely we have received, freely give.) Value every person you encounter as greater than yourself. Out of this view comes the love and respect that is due these people we meet here in Lebanon. It’s out of this view that I can love my neighbour or that person in my life that causes me grief, etc. You name yours. I’ll name mine.

The day has passed and I’m left thinking that these wonderful people, the Bedouins, will be among the greatest in heaven. As they come to love Jesus like I have, they have more courage, more faith and more passion for the things of Jesus than I could ever hope to have. It will be an honour for me to meet them at the wedding table where I hope to have the privilege of serving them as they sit close to where our Saviour is seated.

jp