Grandbabies and Jimmy Carter
On Sunday Sally and I sent out the following email to our supporters. As a follow up I would recommend an article in Ha'aretz Newspaper (Israel's largest). It is an interview with Carter. I am impressed by Carter's gentle and patient tone, but also note Carter's need to preserve his place in the history of this conflict. The article is entitled "Jimmy Carter: Israel Must Talk to Everyone."
Dear Friends,
Sally and I are in North Carolina
this week loving every minute of time with Mahalia, our new grandbaby
(belonging to son, Joshua, and daughter-in-law, Kimberly). Our
daughter Leah, husband Jory, and family were able to be here last week,
so we had Emma and Brayden time as well. Our Nana and Papa hearts are
filling up again. We thank God for each member of our family, and are
grateful to have some time to be with them.
Our hearts are also
filled with sadness as we listen to the news of the Middle East, and
absorb, along with you, all the fear and prejudice fueled by our
politicians and media players. It's very disheartening to hear the
many distortions presented as fact, and the facts that are never
reported at all, or spun in such a way as to give the American public a
false picture of what is happening in the region. The truth is that
there are good guys and bad guys on all sides in this troubled part of
the world, and of course, we followers of Jesus understand this from
the gut (the biblical meaning of "heart.") We know our own hearts, and
we know them to be conflicted in every way. We too, as individuals,
are good and yet at the same time corrupted. This is a basic tenet of
Judaism as well, yet one more key theological principle that we share
with our Jewish cousins.
At
the same time, our hearts are lifted by the courage of Christian
brother, and former president, Jimmy Carter. Think what you will of
this man, and I know that many of you don't think of him at all, or
that when you do you do not think of him well, but at least give the
man his due. He is a man who follows his own convictions of what it
means to follow Jesus, even to his own hurt. This week Carter plans to
meet with the enemy, (the Syrians and members of Hamas),
in order to influence them toward a nonviolent path for peace. Already
Carter is being mocked and berated as a fool and traitor, an enemy of
our friends and a friend to our enemies. I pray for his success and
ask God to give folks like you and me the courage to act on our
convictions as well, even when so doing brings us nothing but derision
and dislike. I'm not asking you to agree or disagree with President
Carter, but to simply stand up and be counted for something that seeks
to influence your part of the world toward Jesus, especially Jesus' courageous
call for us to seek blessings in making peace. I'm not completely sure
what Jesus meant when he commanded us "to love our enemies," but I'm
pretty sure that Carter is closer to what Jesus had in mind than most.
And I will pray for him this week. I am asking you to do the same.
Our
hearts are filling with renewed conviction of the importance of little
people like you and me - people who profess to follow Jesus - to follow
Jesus all the way and not just as far as feels good to us or is good
for us and our families. God's Kingdom is bigger than any one country,
or any one people, and includes within it people from every corner of
the world. Along with God, Sally and I long for the day when all God's
children move in harmony toward one lofty, divine goal - the redemption
of the world. We are invited into this work, and we stand in awe at God's gracious invitation. Let's say "yes."
We love you.
marlin and sally
