A Forward Design

If you haven’t been tracking the news in the last year or two, the situation in the Mexican border town of Juarez is quite disturbing.  With homicides becoming a regular part of daily life for the citizens there, the local drug cartels are battling for turf control & the cost in lives has made Juarez one of the most dangerous places in the western hemisphere even the world.  Last week, 15 people were killed in a single day, including a 7-year old boy, three women, and  a university professor.  Even journalists aren’t safe, losing their lives at nearly twice the rate than reporters covering Afghanistan. 2,000 people have been killed in the city this year.  This narrated slideshow expresses the deep trouble Juarez is in…truly heartbreaking.

These remain our neighbors to the south, only a twelve-hour drive away.  As Henri Nouwen contended, we are intimately linked to the fate and spiritual life of our greater American family; our latin brothers & sisters to the south.  We @ WBCC have remained involved in projects in small ways in Juarez the last few years.  I’m reminded of that as a team from out of our church body heads down there next week to do Kingdom work! (Pray for them: Dave and Dora Larsen +Matt, Jacob and Josh.  Randy De Young + Rachelle and Riggs; John and Kerrie Trovingers + Luke, Jake and Zeb)  Pray that our eyes, too, are open to the suffering so close to home & the ways we could respond.  And pray for the peace of Christ to overcome Ciudad Juarez!