Ladies and gentlemen, let’s kick the tires and light the fires…it’s Middle East time.
During our race’s launch back in August, we learned that only 8 of our 28 person squad would be traveling to Lebanon at around the halfway point of our route while the rest of the squad would head to Jordan. During our first debrief in Spain, leadership asked each person to consider of which country the Lord had burdened your heart to go. Our answer was to be in an email. Here is mine:
“Dear Leadership,
Two years ago, as the Lord began to rewire and reposition my heart for the nations, I was at a friend’s house passively scanning through his collection of books, absolutely not intending to find my next read, when a book title caught my eye: “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus” by Nabeel Qureshi. Intrigued, I picked it up and read the foreword… which happened to be written by Ravi Zacharias, one of my favorite speakers.
I bought the book on Amazon the next day.
At that point, not only was the Lord rewiring my heart for the nations, but he was also burdening my heart for where and why I should go:
The Middle East. Muslims.
I was uneasy when the Lord started revealing this to me (that’s an understatement). Nevertheless, I read/devoured this new book and immediately picked up Nabeel’s second book: “No God But One: Allah or Jesus.” I’ve since read that one three times, trying to grasp and truly learn not only about Islamic teaching, but also about the sheer magnitude and incredible grace of the gospel of Jesus.
Fast forward to training camp, the moment I heard Chris and Danny’s pitch for having a team from our squad be the first Race group ever to visit Lebanon, and hearing that university students love to talk about/discuss philosophy, logic, and belief, my excitement went through the roof.
“Lebanon?! Wow. That would be a test,” I remember thinking a lot.
Being a small student of history, I know Lebanon has a bit of a history with radical Islamic terrorism. It’s well known that Hezbollah, a Shia’-Islamist political party and militant group that has been notorious for stirring up conflict, has gained a large and faithful following in the country. And the dangers that entail going anywhere near the Syrian border/basically “no man’s land,” and being in downtown Beirut past sundown are well chronicled.
Anyways, getting back on track, one of the largest reasons I chose this World Race route was due to its emphasis on muslim countries in the 10/40 Window. Lebanon is arguably the most hostile towards the gospel on our list… but that also means they’re the most desperate for it.
I would love to be a part of the team that works there.
In Christ,
Bradley Costiloe”
Well.. I made the team. We leave tomorrow, November 30th. It’s only a thirty minute flight from Cyprus.
Lebanon’s had a tough go if it… really most of the last half-century. Fighting between the two opposing Islamic factions, Sunnis and Shiites, has caused not only Lebanon much distress and bloodshed, but almost all of the eastern Islamic world at some point in time. Even now, tensions between the Sunni theocracy of Saudi Arabia and the Shiite powerhouse of Iran is causing turmoil in Lebanon (because their largest and most powerful party in government is the group I mentioned above.. Hezbollah, who is Shiite) as well as the countries of Yemen and Syria by supporting their ongoing proxy wars.
(If you’re interested in learning more about the ongoing tensions you can do what I did… Google it! Haha)
Anyways, I’m super pumped. This may be the most spiritually taxing country we’ll travel to, so prayerful preparation is crucial. Whenever you think of our team throughout your day, please pray. Pray for the countries of Lebanon and Jordan, as well as the rest of Middle East. Pray for hearts of stone to be replaced with hearts of flesh. Pray for the Islamic community, that they would be moved to the core by the love and grace of Jesus’ gospel. And pray that our boldness and courage would not wane, but actually grow stronger.
Love all of you! Cyprus has been incredible, by the way. Such a beautiful, unique place with amazing people and culture.
Be blessed!
-Bradley
