Love, Hope and the Courage Not to Hate
The world says, stand up for yourself. Fight. Jesus said, give your coat to him who asks. Let him hit you again. Jesus says, My kingdom is different. Put others first. Love first. Love God.
Yet the powerful drop the bombs. Every day. The people cry. The war planes circle again and again. The children hide. They bomb the schools, the churches, the hospitals, the houses. They search for more people to kill. The people hide.
The powerful do not cry. What has happened to their souls? Don’t they have mothers? Don’t they have children?
Yet, they are hungry to kill more and more. The bombs are not killing enough. They plead with their powerful neighbors: "We must stop the rice. Stop the medicine. We must kill more — make them starve — make them sick.”
Yet Jesus says love them.
Love and do not hate. Share your rice with the enemy. Bury your dead. Stand up. Do not let the hate win.
Don’t let the hate win. Do not fear. Love drives out fear. Do not hate
The local Baptist church invited all their friends and relatives to a 50-year jubilee celebration.
Come, and we will worship. Come, and we will kill the pig and eat it. Come, and we will worship. Come, and we will thank God for all that He has given us in this hard yet beautiful place. Come and worship.
In a remote place in the jungle so far away at the base of a mountain. A beautiful valley. They came. The children laughed and played.
But also came the war planes. Dropping bombs. Again and again. Circling around and dropping more and more. Until the village was no more. Burned. Flattened. Only the smoke remained.
Though the powerful kill, hope will survive.
We are determined to not hate. The Karen learned this lesson long ago. A new generation must learn it.
Love, and do not hate.
Hope, and do not despair.
Thank the Lord for what we have.
Pray He will save us.
Pray He will save the children.
In the end, hope does not disappoint.
