Saturday, June 6, 2009

Peace in Lebanon

Hey family,

Tomorrow, which is actually already today here in Lebanon, they are holding elections. Visiting this place has been amazing, it's truly beautiful in so many ways. The food is among the best I've had anywhere (cheese, bread, olives, lamb, a little bit of wine, it's amazing). The landscape is accentuated by beautiful snow-capped mountains, roman ruins,  breathtaking sunsets over the sea, Parisian-esque cafes and pedestrian streets, stunning architecture, rolling hills and valleys and...lots and lots of political signs and campaigning for tomorrow's elections. Because of the national and global security issues at stake, there is a very real, but surreal [to me at least], threat of violence. Even this afternoon it didn't seem entirely real that as i was drinking coffee at a cafe on the street, there were several hundred soldiers in the plaza scattered among multiple tanks and jeeps, monitoring people driving through with flags and honking their horn for their particular party (apparently each party has a distinct sequence of honks for their candidates which is entirely indistinguishable to me). It feels a bit like Y2K.

Today I facilitated some focus group with teens that attend Youth For Christ programs. We were discussing politics, religion, spirituality and identity and there is so much apprehension about the political instability and religious bickering that has encumbered Lebanon for the past 40 years. Many nations have poured money into the elections fighting for a stake in this country and it somewhat leaves the Lebanese left to try and figure out their own identity in the midst of all the voices seeking their attention. Most of the youth love their country, but don't see a future here b/c it is not safe and they are tired of always living scared. 

Religion has been so closely tied to politics that most students are entirely turned off to organized religion, although they are quite open to spirituality and really are searching for meaning and purpose. The Christians are divided politically and will likely determine whether a pro-western/democracy gains power or a syrian and Iran backed hezballah party gain control. Israel ironically supports Hezballah and so do a decent percentage of Christians. It's not a straight forward topic, but it has shown me how little i know and understand about middle east politics and how much i need to learn to truly love people and be a responsible citizen of the Kingdom of God as well as the American government, particularly considering how much the U.S. gets involved in so many countries here. (i.e. U.S. funding a bridge reconstruction project near the Roman ruins I visited that were blown up by Israeli missiles that are also mostly U.S. funded, that's a head scratcher). Regardless of the outcomes, Christians will likely be responsible for pushing the balance of power one way or another and there could be some internal fighting among the christians and against the Christians in general, particularly if the Hezbollah coalition are successful as the polls are indicating.

Pray for peace and stability in this beautiful country and particularly that the Christians would be unified in trusting God alone and not man or any party. Pray for, "God to preserve and build his Church in Lebanon, sanctifying her for her own sake, for Lebanon's sake, and for the glory of God; may faithfulness, humility, spiritual authority and blessed unity in the gospel of Jesus Christ be forged in this furnace of trial."

I aint skerred, God's protected me wherever i've been and I trust Him and there are 50,000 troops deployed to curtail any possible violence. I honestly feel quite blessed and privileged to be here during this important hour. I'm in a very safe place a bit above the city center at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary a few minutes walk from the Book of Hope Director's family's house. I have a beautiful view down into the city from my window.  If there are civilian casualties particularly in the Christian areas, the U.S. cracks down on Israel, Syria & Lebanon, so that keeps me a bit safer b/c no one wants to bite the hand that feeds them ;c) I love you all and covet your prayers. Don't worry mom, i'm fine!

one love,
pete



These are two articles with a bit more clarity than my ramblings, i can't exactly vouch for the bias in either of them, but they are interesting reading if you're bored :c) 

Monday, June 1, 2009


Last night we went downtown and walked around and had dinner. I can absolutely see why it's called the Paris of the Middle East, I thought I was in Europe. Beautiful mosques, churches and other buildings, lots of green, the bay is beautiful and the food is amazing. Learning about the history of Lebanon is amazing, I can't believe how much of the history in the past five years I had no idea about or didn't remember. Today doing focus groups at school was really sad to see how bogged down kids are by politics and religion. We were at an evangelical school, which is still attended by a lot of muslim kids, but none of them really saw religion as separate from politics and as anything that offered them guidance or direction in life. They were very talkative and really fascinating. They pretty much all said that they live in constant fear of war and they all said they don't want to live here when they grow up b/c it is too stressful. 

i didn't land in lebanon until about 3:30 a.m. b/c our plane was delayed an hour b/c someone forgot to pick up their duty free bag and they had to call in the bomb squad. Getting through lebanese customs and passport was just as easy as london or canada, i was shocked, maybe b/c it was so early in the morning. I was worried that there wouldn't be a taxi driver waiting, but he was there. He asked me if i was hungry and i said not really, so he proceeded to take me out to dinner. He kept asking me if i wanted girls, alcohol or drugs and i told him i wasn't into those things. He was apparently a christian too and so we talked a bit while he treated me to dinner with a bunch of lebanese guys at 4 in the morning listening to classic rock in the middle of the street at this restaurant on the backstreets of Beirut. We drove up a mountain side and he told me that it wasn't like the U.S. and that you have to throw your trash out the window and i told him i didn't want to and didn't believe in it and he told me i was lebanese now and had to so he stopped the car and i shamefully threw the bag out the window. The view was amazing driving up the mountain-side which looked over a bay that was lit up fairly well for nighttime, the picture doesn't even do justice to it. Half way up he told me to get out and take a look and then we went all the way up to the christian retreat center where i stayed. The sun was coming up by this time and I watched the sun rise on the bay, it was amazing. We got there and he wouldn't even let me pay for the taxi or anything, he was such a cool and crazy guy.There is a giant statue of Mary overlooking the bay that was a few hundred feet from my room and on the other side, i have a view of St. Paul's Basilica which is really old and has amazing gold leafed domed ceilings with incredible mosaics and ornate decorations. The Catholic church still leaves me scratching my head plenty. This weekend was Pentecost and so there were lots of pilgrims that came to the giant statue and even motorcycles passing by at all hours of the night. I checked out the gift shop, but decided to pass on the Virgin Mary bottles of win, cedar ash trays and what not. You can check out the statue and the amazing view from the top of the hill where i was staying http://www.harissa.info/flash.htm