Team members write:
We often walk or drive through our neighborhood, a short trip but an emotional marathon. Crowds of dusty children, small adoring fans, race to catch a glimpse of our “white” skin and call our names as we bounce past. For a moment we are Christ’s celebrities.

Then come curses, spit and rocks. Fame is infamy. A door in a high cement wall cracks open and four heads appear. Eyes full of suspicion, disgust and murder are in front but a sparkly smile peeks from the back. Spit lands on the window; we’re glad it was rolled up. One hand goes up to shyly wave while rocks hit the ground next to us. A 12-year-old glares and a 14-year-old curses, “I will kill you,” as he swings his soccer cleats like a mace.

A senior colleague with a couple decades of experience among M*sl!m peoples, said he’s never lived where hostility is waiting the moment you arrive. As if to prove the point he was just expelled from this country for his loving witness.

All this is a gift to remind us, Jesus is our treasure. This teaches us to thrive, not on the loving welcome of a few kind faces, but in the loving arms of our Lord–who walked these roads of hostility, spit, curses, and murder long before us. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!