Dear friends,
For those of us who believe in resurrection power of Christ and are waiting and working for his Kingdom, the darkness of this damned world (I don't use that word lightly) is just a passing blip of a shadow compared to the Light that is coming. Although the fullness of Jesus' reign is not yet here, it's in the process of arriving. And we are to live in the coming reality of his authority, delighting in the exercise of his righteousness and fighting against that which is against his nature.
In the light of this truth, I ask your prayers for the city of Parral. Recently, our city has experienced several heavy blows from very unrighteous people. There are a few drug cartels in Mexico (some are also rumored to have come from Columbia as well) that are power-fighting against themselves and the federal authorities here in Mexico. As I understand the news, the U.S. and Mexican governments have been putting heavier pressure on these drug cartels as of late, and the scoundrels are reacting against it by trying to scare local authorities into submission through kidnapping, hostage-taking, and murder.
Unfortunately, Parral has been one of their battlegrounds as of late. Some of these drug lords have kidnapped and murdered a few policemen, and their persistence is scaring a lot of these lawmen to resign, weakening the strength of the law in the city (which is already weaker than it needs to be). Last night, the city sounded with several gunshots in various neighborhoods throughout the city, and as David and I were running this afternoon, more shots were fired in an area about a 1/2 mile from where we were.
I'm not afraid, and neither are the believers with whom I have the privilege of fellowshipping. The church here is firmly planted in the truth of the Gospel, which declares the decay of this world and the glory of the one to come. This is a glorious opportunity to share the Good News with those who do not have the Hope we do.
So, please pray for open doors to share the Gospel with people during this dark time. Pray for the piercing Light of Jesus to shatter this crummy dark world. Pray that his Kingdom would come and will be done. What an honor we have to ask the Father for our hearts' desire in the Son's name (See John 16:23-4).
To close things off, I thought I'd include a quote from The Return of the King, taken from the scene where Frodo and Sam and on their journey through the Land of Shadow. I think it illustrates our situation rather well:
There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.
I'm not afraid, and neither are the believers with whom I have the privilege of fellowshipping. The church here is firmly planted in the truth of the Gospel, which declares the decay of this world and the glory of the one to come. This is a glorious opportunity to share the Good News with those who do not have the Hope we do.
So, please pray for open doors to share the Gospel with people during this dark time. Pray for the piercing Light of Jesus to shatter this crummy dark world. Pray that his Kingdom would come and will be done. What an honor we have to ask the Father for our hearts' desire in the Son's name (See John 16:23-4).
To close things off, I thought I'd include a quote from The Return of the King, taken from the scene where Frodo and Sam and on their journey through the Land of Shadow. I think it illustrates our situation rather well:
There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.
