In the Presence of My Enemies: Week 4

Chapters 9, 10, 11

This week, I’m going to leave the commentary of our reading to you—so your comments are, as always, very important. In these chapter, Martin and Gracia continue to live on the edge of life during their ordeal in and we see new emotional lows a for them as well as a break through.

Gracia writes honestly of a crisis of faith that she goes through during this particular passage of time.

• In your opinion, what brought on the crisis and what led to its being resolved?


• Have you ever had a crisis of faith? What led to it?


• What helped you resolve it? Or—is it resolved?

Maybe you are continuing to live in a place where you are angry with God, or feeling deeply separated from Him. I hope you’ll share your honest struggle so we can pray for you.

In the Presence of My Enemies: Week 3

Chapters 6, 7, & 8

The beginning of chapter brought back great memories for me—my husband was a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship, and we have similar stories of bringing the holidays to missionaries living in the remote jungle areas of Venezuela. One Christmas, my husband and I and our two elementary aged children flew all the food and trimmings to a village that had an airstrip. From there, we had to take a canoe up the river for about one hour to reach a family who had recently moved to their village that was nestled up close to the river.

Deep sand formed the ground and where ever you walked, you basically waded in sand. The village people had provided a used chicken coop for our friends to live in, but because of the filth in the sand, their little one year old child was either held, or sitting in her high chair, or in her bed. The two older children were free to run around to their hearts’ content—but the baby couldn’t walk or crawl for fear that her hands would bring the filth to her mouth. I remember we had a wonderful meal and then spent the afternoon cooling off and playing in the river before our canoe ride back to the plane and the flight home. That night, as I put my children to bed in our primitive home in town, it seemed like we lived in a palace. My “suffering” was nothing compared to what I’d seen that day.

We can each compare our situation to others and find circumstances that are more challenging than ours. At the WOTH Furlough Retreat this summer, we learned about some cross-cultural workers in the Middle East who had gone on a picnic over a year ago and been attacked. Three single women were killed while a man, married but not accompanied by his wife that day) and a family of five disappeared. Months later, two of the children were discovered and it seemed they had been well cared for. No one knows how they got to where they were discovered or what has happened to their baby brother, parents or the man who was with them. The two little girls are now in a European country where they are being cared for by extended family. And, a lamp burns in hope to remind people to pray at the headquarters of the organization where these people served. (I’m writing this 12.2.10—maybe this will have changed by the time this post is published.)

When I read Gracia’s story and hear of stories like above and reflect on people who’ve lived incredibly challenging lives, I have to pay attention. Questions fly in my mind and there are no easy answers.

This week, would you share two things with us, please?

• First, has there been a story of suffering—or life challenges—that has challenged you?
  
• Second—What questions do Gracia’s and other’s stories raise for you? Have you found any answers to them?

In the Presence of My Enemies: Week 2

Please read chapters 3, 4, and 5 this week.

I loved reading these chapters of Martin and Gracia’s early days and call into missions. On page 34, we see a foreshadowing of the suffering Martin will eventually endure in his call into missions. “One day, Martin received the news that a NTM pilot he knew well in the Philippines had crashed his plane and been killed. Martin could well envision the gap in service that would leave. Who would step in to fill it? Maybe the Lord wanted him to complete his Bible studies after all.”

Many people would not be willing to enter into a profession that could lead to death—and here was Martin being challenged to consider being a mission pilot because someone whose boots he might fill had died. Gracia had earlier been challenged during the play "Through Gates of Splendor" that told the story of the five missionaries who were massacred in 1956 in Ecuador. She wrote on page 27, “I stood up to leave the chapel that day, unable to say a word. Will the Lord ever require me to do what those men did? To go through what they went through?”

Both Martin and Gracia knew that their choice to serve overseas could lead to suffering. They said yes to the call of missions through the death of those who had given their lives so others could hear about Jesus.

This week, let’s share about our call to serve as cross-cultural workers. How did that call come? What did it look like? What cost did you confront when you said, “Yes.” Did you consider that your willingness to live overseas might lead to suffering?

In The Presence of My Enemies: Week 1

Our first book selection of 2011 isn’t a light read. It’s tough to study the life of people who have really suffered. But books like this teach us so many things. I think it is worth our time to discover what those lessons from the Burnhams’ lives might be.

This week, we’ll read the intro to this book and chapters 1 and 2. I wonder what your thoughts will be as you follow Gracia Burnham and her husband into the abyss of their captivity.
My husband and I lived overseas as cross-cultural workers for 12 of our 28 years with MAF. During that time, we lost colleagues to airplane accidents, malaria, and hepatitis. We visited co-workers who served in high risk areas. Two pilots that we served with were held by guerillas—one for a few hours, one for a few weeks.

There were three events last November that reminded me that suffering happens all the time. On November 8, an MAF pilot/mechanic, a devoted husband and father, died when he and another adult tried to rescue two teenage orphans they’d taken to the beach who were swept out to sea. On November 10, the Court in Bhubaneswar, capital of India's Orissa State, sentenced to death Dara Singh, ringleader of Hindu mob that burned and killed Australian missionary, Graham Staines, and his two , Philip and Timothy four years ago. On November 26, a friend posted on FB that another friend who is pilot/mechanic with NTM and a wonderful husband and father was in a coma from his liver disease.

Opportunities to suffer because of where we live as cross-cultural workers abound. How do we think about the potential to face prison or death for our Lord? That’s the question I’d like you to comment about this week.

If this is your first time to read a book with us, may I also ask that you not be shy? Our book club functions best when we all participate in posting our thoughts and responses in the comment section.

I’ll look forward to hearing from you

Next Book Discussion Starts Jan.10, 2011

Preview of In the Presence of My Enemies, by Gracia Burnham:

How would you react if you were suddenly snatched away from the life you knew and the people you loved?

Imagine the terror of being roused out of bed one morning at gunpoint. Of being kidnapped and held captive for more than a year, living on the run without warm clothes, enough food, or adequate shelter. Of being chained to a tree each night, sleeping on the ground despite painful body sores and debilitating intestinal viruses. Of never knowing if you’d have food to eat or water to drink, if you’d be shot at yet again by your would-be rescuers, or if your captors would make good on their threat to behead you--as they had several of your fellow hostages.

Martin and Gracia Burnham lived this nightmare as captives of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, having been kidnapped while celebrating their wedding anniversary at a resort in the Philippines. During a yearlong ordeal as hostages on the run in the jungle, the missionary pilot and his wife struggled to live the faith they had come to the Philippines to proclaim. In the process, they discovered the true condition of their own hearts--and of the heart of God.

Get a 30% discount on the book by ordering it through Inklings Bookshop...see sidebar for details!

Caring without Wearing: Week 8

This is our last week to study Caring without Wearing and this lesson gives us an opportunity to reflect on Carol’s teaching and to decide how we want to incorporate her wisdom into our lives. While each question is important, I’d like us to take time to share our responses to questions 4-12. You don’t have to comment on each of those, but what stands out to you from this set of questions?

What do you take away from the case study about Jim and the one found in Numbers 11: 10-23?

As we close our time of study together, which of the goals on pages 72-73 do you chose to pursue?

One last comment—How does this study impact your life, your choices, your ministry?
Thank you for studying this book with me. I’m very thankful for God’s ability to love the world through us while also loving and caring for us. May we practice caring without wearing.

Editor's Note: Have a great holiday season as you bring "joy to the world"! Join us back here on January 10 when Linda begins the New Year with a new book: In the Presence of My Enemies, by Gracia Burnham. It's the true story of a couple serving cross-culturally who are kidnapped by Filippino rebels. (See sidebar for ordering the book at a discount!)