Let Love In

I was listening to K-Love the other day, something I used to avoid at all costs, but recently have began to appreciate. Over the last few months they've been raising awareness about a trip they're sponsoring to Afghanistan. K-Love prompted listeners to donate money towards the surgery for a little boy named Ali who had a cleft pallet. As they stated in their culture it is more than a slight deformity. It is seen as shameful, to the point that little Ali's family did not leave their home for fear of the ridicule and cruelty they would endure. They were shunned from society and alone. Listeners donated money to an organization that travels around the world, going to largely untouched places where hospitals and the technology to do such surgeries do not exist and spread God's love through their medical gifts. For a mere $1,000.00 Ali received the surgery to repair is cleft pallet and literally change his entire family's life. That in itself says a great deal about how much we have in this country and how little it takes to truly make a difference in the lives our our brother and sisters around the world.

The thing that really stuck out to me was when I heard one of the K-Love dj's talking about his experience as he was able to travel to Afghanistan and meet Ali and his family and be with them through the surgery. He said that being there and befriending these people helped him to realize how kind and loving the people of Afghanistan are. We in America allow the evil extended by a very small group of people to define our opinions about the entire Muslim people. In reality they're people just like you and me, loving, caring, with families.

While this idea isn't new to me and I agree fully, it was incredibly refreshing to hear it expressed by a fairly well known Christian figure. It has been my experience that more so than the "secular" population in our country, the generally conservative Christian population are the ones promoting hate toward the Muslim people. It's heartbreaking that we slander and spew out hateful words towards innocent people who never have, and would never think of doing something harmful to us. More than that it is, as based on basic fundamentals of the Christian faith, wrong. The Bible over and over states that we are to LOVE our enemies Luke 6:27 says "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." Matthew 5:44 says "But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." I am not saying that the Muslim people as a whole are our enemies. What I am saying is that even if they were, and even for the few that deserve to be called so, the correct and God-pleasing response is to show them the love.

We get so angry when our peers look at "Christians" like Westboro Baptist Church and conclude that's what Christianity is all about. Yet we do the same thing to the Muslims. It's such unbelievable hypocrisy and injustice.

So anyway, it brought me great joy to hear a mainstream Christian voice advocating the idea that most Muslims are peaceful people and should not be judged based upon the actions a few radicals. Greg Mortenson portrays an amazing example of this in his book 'Three Cups of Tea'. For those unfamiliar with his work, Greg traveled unexpectedly to a remote mountain village in Pakistan in the few years before the takeover of the Taliban. There he witnessed the vulnerability of these people to the work of the Taliban created by the lack of education. He vowed to build them a school, and he did. Not only did he build one, but he traveled all over remote villages of Pakistan and later Afghanistan building schools. The book tells the story of the obstacles he overcame, the schools he built, and more than anything the people he met. It is a truly moving and inspiration book and I highly recommend it! He has a second one, 'Stones into Schools' that I haven't read yet, but it's on my list!