Time is Short for Learning How to Live in Community with Each Other.

What will you do with the time and resources you have left? Was that last fight or argument really worth it? Did someone actually win or did everyone loose? Were hearts softened or hardened as a result? Living in community in this small world is better than living alone in a big world. What does it profit a man or woman if they gain the whole world but loose their soul? Most wars and conflicts today arise over material possessions. Greed, jealousy, envy, and anger result in coveting, stealing, damaged relationships and more. And who wants to live in a world like that? Be a peace maker. You will be blessed.

Poodwaddle.com

Dramatic Changes Along the Silk Road.

Two men from a Central Asian country recently flew to Afghanistan. They were on a spiritual mission. Upon arrival, they drove to a city in the north. After resting and changing into local dress, they picked up their backpacks of Christian literature. They had plans to visit five towns during their two week stay. 

These were places where no foreigner has ever preached the message of Jesus Christ. The men befriended a taxi driver who took them to his house, showed them around town, introduced them to his friends and invited them to stay the night. Many relatives and friends came to dinner. The men shared openly and a young boy who had been beaten and left disabled by religious Muslim leaders listened with tears. The men then prayed earnestly for the group of guests, especially for the boy. No one had heard prayer like that before. 

The same taxi driver continued with them from town to town. Everywhere people seemed poor and desperate. Islam had not provided them with what they had hoped for materially. Many pushed passport size photos into their hands begging them to give these to anyone who might be able to come and help them. The men considered ways in which they might help the people better themselves. Could they start some income generating business there?

In one town they made contact with a shoemaker who had converted from Islam to Christianity. His parents had been killed because of their Christian faith. They learned from him that there are at least one hundred families who follow Jesus though their understanding of the faith is weak. If teachers came they would be eager to learn. Soon the two men were full of ideas. "Choose 10 leaders from among yourselves. Gather them in a safe place and we can send someone to teach them. They in turn can teach the others. Perhaps two or three could even come and stay with us a for a time of leadership training."

Back home, at the end of this life changing trip, they shared their experiences and spread out the photographs on the table. They remembered their pleading, "Come and help us. Give us hope." Two small churches in Central Asia, who are very poor themselves, decided to "adopt" the new Christian believers in northern Afghanistan and help them grow in their faith. Such are some of the dramatic changes along the Silk Road.

One way that Christianity is being spread in Afghanistan is through radio. Pamir Productions has contact with many Afghan Christians. More stories like this can also be found at: More than Dreams.

Our Longing for Community

Our Longing for Community
by G. Franklin

I long for a place where I feel welcome and accepted.
     Enable me to open my heart and arms to others.
I long to belong - to be known and loved.
     Enable me to embrace others.
I long to enjoy the comfort and company of close friends.
     Enable me to extend my friendship to others.
I long for friends who accept the reality of who I really am in the present.
     May I freely offer the gift of safety to others.
I long for friends who believe in me and in the person I long to become.
     May I gladly offer the gift of vision.
I long for friends who live me enough to be truthful with me.
     May I humbly offer the gift of wisdom.
I long to move past my fears of being hurt of disappointed by people.
     Free me to risk living in community.
I long to break free from my comfortable apathy.
     Free me to risk living in community.
I long to embrace the way of deeper commitment to others.
     Free me to risk living in community.

Then in this environment of community we want to become more like Christ.

Together may we experience the mystery of spiritual transformation.

The Carpet Workshop

When Jay arrived in a beautiful Silk Road city, he found it was a region of chronic unemployment. He wanted to do something that would empower the poor to be able to help themselves. It took a lot of hard work and long hours, but Jay was determined to start to help the region once again produce high quality carpets as it had done centuries past. He was committed to seeing that the first workshop would be a model of ethical business in a country where corruption was the norm. There was no special treatment for friends and he focused on empowering the widows, orphans, and the disabled. Soon he was employing 50 people, raising their self-esteem through regular and fair salaries. The workshop was set up as a co-operative with an elected committee of weavers and dyers making decisions. Jay watched the business grow as the assortment of employees were woven into something akin to a tight knit family.