My month in Malaysia is not what I expected. Just like in Nepal our team was by ourselves doing “ATL” (Ask the Lord) month where we didn’t have a set ministry host, but instead we get to go explore the country and search out our own connections. We started in Kuala Lumpur, the capital and major international city. After searching out connections there we got on a bus and went to Penang, Malaysia in the north. Penang is the second biggest city in Malaysia, but it has much more a small town feel and it was easier to meet people. Unlike Nepal my team didn’t fall into these incredible ministry opportunities. At times it was quiet and frustrating. But I did meet some new friends, and God showed me the truth about being on mission is being fully present wherever you are. This blog is a reflection on one friend I met in Penang.
For this blog about Malaysia I will have to take you back to late fall of 2015 when I got a string of cases of new babies. I was still a social worker then, working for the state of Washington, helping kids in foster care. I had 4 new babies born in the span of 5 weeks. I spent a lot of time in the NICU across all 3 hospitals in town and trekking in and out of court. It was a hectic time, the future a big question mark for all of us. But there were a few quiet moments of cradling those little babies in my arms. It was then the world grew quiet. Life is sacred.
At the same time bombs were exploding in Aleppo, Syria. Bloody kids were splashed across the news as even a children’s hospital in Syria was targeted. Terrorism knows no boundaries. Terrorism has no regard for the sacredness of human life nor our connection to one another. For both the terrorist and the terrorized, acts of terror severe our connection with one another and replace it with fear.
I spent hours bouncing from one news article to the next. My fear growing, and feeling more disconnected from my fellow man too overwhelmed by horror. The comparison of being in the NICU after holding a little preemie baby and seeing pictures from a bombed out Neonatal wing in Syria broke me. I buried myself in my bed and wept. In my head, I kept going back and forth from holding the small little preemie in my arms, and seeing images of hospital shrapnel in Syria. It was overwhelming, and I was only living it through a laptop screen.
Fast forward to Malaysia almost 2 years later. I am sitting eating middle eastern food chatting with numerous young guys. They are all from Syria. Each has a story of while they are not in Syria. But it’s not something you just ask about.
For one friend we met there, I did ask. In jumbled words I explained how sad I felt for his country and how all Americans see is bombs exploding on the news. It was like a fog rolled over him. My lively friend became deadpan. He left Syria to escape the civil war, to escape being drafted into the military, to escape dying needlessly. His story tales his family moving several times because of the violence, gunfire, bombs. With great exasperation he explained what it’s like to see buildings explode and bodies flying. He said he doesn’t even fear a sniper will get him when he walks down his block, there is no meaning to life anyway.
Terrorism is a seismic event. It doesn’t just stop at the people directly terrorized. The impacts radiate out from the epicenter creating aftermath in human hearts thousands of miles away. Thats what happened to me when I saw news stories on Syria.
And I don’t believe we’ve figured out a good way to fight terrorism yet. But stopping the ripple effects begins with remembering our humanity and clinging to our greater connection with one another.
As a follower of Jesus I believe every person was created in the Imago Dei, the image of God. Even the worst characters in the history of mankind were still created and were human. And even though I can’t fathom what broke in them to get them to commit inexplicable acts of terror they were still human. My hatred for them only perpetuates the ripples of dehumanization and disconnection.
What is disconnection but a lack of love. And what is connection but the outcome of love. My God, in the biggest mystery of all time is three persons in one God, connected with intimacy and love. Jesus came in sacrificial love to die on a cross to restore the broken connection between God and humans. Our sin which disconnects us from God is reversed when we accept Jesus as a savior, a conduit to bring us back into connection.
Meeting my Syrian friend in Malaysia (of all places) connected me the pain in Syria. I feel sorrow for fellow man there but also love. I feel connection. I think our best shot of fighting what’s going on in the world is in 1 Peter 4:8, “above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.”
Loving deeply means not shying away from connection. It means sitting with pain and being vulnerable. It means holding tightly onto one another, not going numb, not giving into apathy. Loving deeply means acknowledging the imperfect and beautiful humanity in the person front of you.
