Peace is Good

One day before the volunteer teams left the guest house for a day of medical clinics and well pumping, Tim, a Southern Baptist volunteer from Arizona, stood at the gate practicing his bahasa (language).

“Selamat pagi (good morning),” he’d say with a smile to every person who passed by. Most people just smiled and nodded in acknowledgement of the friendly foreigner. One young man came over to talk.

He was 19 years old and spoke English very clearly.  He asked, “Where are you from?”

“America,” Tim responded.

“Are you Muslim?” he asked. He quickly followed his question with the observation that the women in the group wore head coverings like a modest Muslim woman would wear.

“No, we are not Muslim.  We are followers of Isa Al Masih (Jesus the Messiah),” said Tim. “Our ladies wear the head covering out of respect for your culture.”

He nodded and then asked, “Were you afraid to come here?”

Tim paused for a moment to think about how best to answer his question. Then he said, “I understand that there has been conflict going on here for many years, but I am not afraid of regular people like you.”

“You know not all Muslims are violent. We are peaceful,” the young man said.  He then asked what the Americans had come to do.

Tim was wearing medical scrubs with the word Kasih (Indonesian for love) printed on it. Tim pointed to the word and said, “Isa taught us that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are here to provide free medical clinics and to pump out contaminated wells to provide clean water and to fog to reduce the number of mosquitoes around the camps for people displaced by the tsunami. We are here to be a good neighbor by showing love for God through showing love to the people.”

The young man looked off into the distance, as if reviewing his life and then he said, “The tsunami was very, very bad. But you know for the first time in my life the rebels and the government are not fighting as much. Peace is good.” He paused and then added in a soft voice,  “Thank you for coming.”

Pray:

The love shown by volunteers will build into a bridge for the Gospel to the tsunami survivors.

The people of Northern Sumatra would find lasting peace through the Prince of Peace.