Answered By Fire

I watched a television special last night called, "Answered by fire." Answered by Fire is a two-part mini-series based on the 1999 East Timor conflicts that led to East Timor's independence. The story is a fictionalised account of a team of international observers, primarily police from nations such as Canada and Australia, working on behalf of the UN in order to arrange and run the vote for independence in East Timor. It is obvious early on that not all is well in the troubled region, with massacres of entire families leaving no doubt in the mind of the UN officers that the Pro-Indonesian Militia are attempting to subvert the independence proceedings. The list of voters seems to be becoming a death-list, scaring more and more from registering themselves.

It is about one of those brutal realities we in America and other civilized countries will probably never have to face: living in a third world country, being brutalized by militia with no protection from our government. Brothers and fathers being taken away never to be seen again, sisters and mothers taken to be raped over and over by the enemy and sometimes the corrupt government; little kids being sold into slavery, the sex trade, or to fight for the enemy...

I love and I hate watching these types of shows. It's really hard to watch, and you just want to turn the T.V. off and try to forget the reality; which is actually pretty easy as we turn up the air conditioner, go fix lunch, pick up the tons of toys our kids have strewn on the floor, and call a friend for coffee next week.

One line in the movie which was made by a Timorese translator working with the UN said, "If I were born somewhere else, I could go to school or get a job, and my mother would still be alive."Many innocent men women and children were slaughtered in this movie because they wanted to vote to become autonomous from the Indonesian Government. It is a great movie to watch if you can catch it when it is on sometime.

It renews my desire to pray for those around the world who live and have lived in this sort of atmosphere their whole lives. Those in Darfur who have been in pain and suffering for so many years. "Lord, have mercy on them and completely destroy their enemy." The common people in Iraq who are being killed every day only because of where they live. "Father, have mercy on them and spare their lives and let them know You as their Savior." The suffering orphans in Africa who are sick and starving to death. "Father feed them and heal them and let them find you as a Father."

And there are so many more around the world I know nothing about.... and in actuality it hurts to know more, but just because I want to stick my head in the sand does not mean it is not a reality for a 40 year old mom just like me across the world who is taken for the pleasure of an enemy, an 8 year old girl who is prostituted out in India, or a 4 year old in Africa who is sick and starving with no hope in sight.

Father, break my heart... keep my eyes open... and then drive me to my knees daily to do the only thing I can do... and that is to pray to the one who is in control of it all to find them and heal them and save them and have mercy on a lost and sick and sinful dying world...