As a person in ministry, throughout my career there have been several issues-at-large that have continually struck a chord with me. One of them has been immigration and the plight of the undocumented in America. Another has been the minority people groups of China. Still yet another has been the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza. One by one, God has allowed me to come into personal contact (and even advocacy) with the first two, to explore these pained vistas; but the third, is still yet something I haven’t touched, I haven’t even come close, but the pain of the situation continues to bother me from afar.
Not sure why.
Maybe it’s my theological views pertaining to issues of Christian Zionism, literalist interpretations, supercessionism, dispensationalism, etc., (all of which I don’t necessarily support, in fact, some I think completely outright errant); maybe it is because through my years at Regent I fell in love with the Hebrew language and culture (albeit an ancient, almost “fantasized” version of it). Whatever the case, I am not sure why the ongoing Gaza conflict always brings me to this state of heart-pained, soul-agony. There is pain all over the world. Suffering everywhere. Why this? Why there?
The following pictures shall go nameless. I will not say whether they are Palestinian or Israeli children. They are children, for God’s sake. And these photos, collocated from past flare-ups on the Strip tell us a story too intimate to ignore. Please – be warned. Don’t scroll any further if you are sensitive to gruesome images, and they are very much so. I do not share these to be sensationalist, but to strike that mutual chord of sympathy we all have, whether Jew, or Gentile.
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May these photos make us pray this Advent season.
Forgiveness. Kindness. Restoration. Sanity. Peace on Earth. Maranatha.
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