Those who fear to suffer, suffer from fear

The above title comes from an artistic portrait that was drawn up by a Sri Lankan youth villager. This particular young person comes from a village named Seenigama in the southern portion of the island-the same portion that was literally devastated by a tsunami in 2004. Yesterday we had the opportunity to visit this village that has now been commandeered by a non-government organization named Foundation of Goodness. This organization that yields itself to the tagline, "from waves of destruction flows waves of compassion" has rehabilitated this small village by offering everything from medical and dental services to a full-fledged cricket field and olympic sized pool. These services, that are provided completely free, are meant to empower young people and adults alike to realize the potential within themselves in order that they might contribute something to humanity. The man who spearheads it all is a devout buddhist although he quite mystified us all throughout the day by using words like "loving kindness," "compassion," "soft heart" and "blessed." Suffice to say, this man's valor was unquestionably affirmed when his secretary proceeded to explain the tsunami story. As it turns out there were actually two waves with the second being the absolute leveler and so after the first wave of the tsunami came and poured through their facilities, including a children's daycare center, this man took it upon himself to run into the camp and grab as many children as he could. He escaped with the children, on foot no less, to run for the higher ground just before the second wave wholly decimated his family's estate, the facilities and a hand full of surrounding villages. 

We have met with many Sri Lankans thus far, always with the utmost hospitality and tender kindness, and we are starting to find that these people know about suffering in more ways than one. The war had waged for nearly 30 years and within that period of time a catastrophic wave of unparalleled proportions ended the lives of nearly 100,000 people. We definitely do not know suffering like this. So too the church has experienced suffering from many places and being exposed to these people makes a theology of suffering all the more relevant. The persecution that they have endured has in turn evoked a response to reach out, to help, to resuscitate it's believers and to evangelize to those who have never believed before. And this model, this charge has brought us to a place of awe once again. From all of this we have found that the calling is present and we want to be involved in whatever way possible so we have hatched an agreement with Pastor Adrian-the leader here. The work that we have found, or that the Lord has laid out for us rather, is to help Kithu Sevana (his church) with their administrative organization. This work will include writing (for a newsletter and website), secretarial work, website work, photography and video compilation as well as some marketing in that general area. This work is the prayer that Pastor Adrian has meditated on for a long while as he has never retained this type of assistance in all of his 16 years of leadership. So it appears that there will be many more trips like the one aforementioned to see the people and places that have been affected by the Kithu Sevana movement-that is one of peace, grace and truth.