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I was holed up in a small hotel room in Khartoum, Sudan in the midst of the civil war. Finally, I could have a secure face-to-face conversation with a Presbyterian pastor who had been released from prison. He had been tortured for weeks in Juba, capitol of the south, at that time under control of government forces. We embraced with tears after our long separation and he poured out his story and his faith… a conversation I would never forget.
Pastor Idris wanted to talk primarily of his life prior to prison rather than the details of his imprisonment. He told me of his vision and his effort to live into it.
“Someday the south will be free. Someday we will be able to worship without threats. So, I live for that day. Whenever I can find a little plot of land in Juba that I can buy, we get it. Someday there will be churches on all those pieces of land all over the city. So, whenever I get a plot of land, I plant mango trees. No one will cut them down even though they might destroy a church building. Someday, when, we are free, we will gather for worship and we will sit under those trees and eat the mangos. Is it not a good vision? Do you not think this is a good plan? Someday, it will become true.”
In the face of great suffering and with little evidence that anything was about to change, Idris lived into his hope. He helped me to see that I too could lift my eyes beyond today, no matter what difficulties may be present, and live into the prayer “Thy Kingdom come, on earth, as it is in heaven.”
I remembered the prophet Jeremiah (chapter 32) in the Old Testament who bought land before the Babylonian exile, believing they would someday return, and I realized that I had just had a conversation with a modern-day prophet who was living his faith.
Prayer: Lord God, who holds the present and the future, no matter how great the challenges to my faith today, give me the courage to live by faith into the vision of your Kingdom. Amen.
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