A silent discontent

The other night I sat on a bus from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.  Grossing Israeli check-points to Bethlehem in Palestine.  I started a conversation with a Palestinian man that sat next to me.  After traveling through these check points for a few days, I lived through the struggle these Palestinians endure daily.  Carrying work permits to enter a country that was recently still theirs, it ominously reminded me of the pass system during the apartheid era.

The man started to fidget and sweat and said under his breath, "O no now they have me, their going to take me to jail." He explained that it is impossible to get a permit to work in now Israel and that most of the land is occupied by Israeli's.  He illegally enters the county of his fathers to try to make a meager living.  The small area Israel has left to Palestinians (West bank and Gaza), is fragmented and UN productive land.  Water and electricity is randomly cut from Israel side and checkpoints are frequently blocked.

The soldiers made their way through the passengers checking their work permits, tension was building and the man was fidgeting in his seat.  I prayed for him and miraculously the soldiers stop abruptly and got off the bus.  This left a great opportunity to share my Jesus with this man!!!  Our God reigns. 

We have been blessed by the open heart of the suffering Palestinians, though the Christians are few in Palestine (About 2%), they are pure gold!!!

Pray for peace and justice in the Holy land, pray for the Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews who are a voice of reason in this troubled land, but most of all pray for the church of Christ (who has deep roots here) to grow new branches and new fruit!

May our God bless this Holy land.