Morley Update 2011 #30

Everyone,

The definition for despair is: 1)To lose all hope 2) To be overcome by a sense of futility or defeat." In one of my favorite movies Anne of Green Gables, Anne asks Marilda "Can't you imagine what is it like to be in the 'depths of despair'" and Marilda answers "No I cannot - to despair is to turn your back on God". More and more we are seeing refugees who are "living lives of quiet desperation" (Henry David Thoreau). A few days ago at our family meal and outreach, I sat with a family who have two children. Their son is one of my favorites - a very sweet boy, who likes to tease me about my poor Farsi. After dinner the mom was standing outside on the balcony with her son and daughter. She was looking down to the street as the traffic went by. Susie stepped out to speak with her. She told Susie that if she didn't have two children to care for she would jump in front of one of the buses as they went by. I had no idea. A life of quiet desperation.

"A" a woman with five children to care for gets up early each day to take her older children to school and then goes to work cleaning apartment buildings for little pay. She struggles every day to keep her children fed and to have a place to sleep. Often her Heroin addicted husband comes home at two or three in the morning and he wakes her up to cook food for him in the middle of the night. He is sometimes abusive and she is afraid. A life of quiet desperation.

"A" a journalist who wrote a book on human and women's rights, has a death warrant on his head. He fled his country and has not seen his wife and children in two years. As he sat on our couch recently, he began to weep when I asked about them. A life of quiet desperation.

Many young Afghan men left their homes after being denied an education because they were the wrong ethnic group. They spend their days living in the park, walking around from place to place to get food. They feel they are wasting their lives and there is no end in sight. Lives of quiet desperation.

Families that are separated as one parent takes some of the children and goes to another country hoping for asylum and to be able to send for the rest of the family. An almost blind grandmother caring for her grand daughter whose parents have moved on and no longer want her. A child left to live with relatives or friends or even worse, on their own, as parents break up the family in hopes of moving on. Lives of quiet desperation.

More and more often we hear refugees talk of suicide - they go on day after day seeing no end to the hopelessness. They can't work, they can't leave, they can't go to school and they can see no way that they will ever have a better life. Their religion offers them no hope. In Islam you can never know if you have done enough to please God so you must keep on trying and trying with no assurance of salvation. We do what we can to ease their way - we give out groceries, we give out clothes, we listen to them, cry with them, pray for them. In the end there is little we can do to change their circumstances. But we can offer hope. Hebrews 6:18-19 says "God did this so that...we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." In a world where nothing is secure we need an anchor. Recently "G", a young Afghan man who was recently baptized and lives on the streets, was offered a place at a camp about an hour away. He would have had a place to sleep and much more security than he has now living in the park. "G" turned down the offer because he wanted to be near to Helping Hands where he studies the Bible and where he has other believers to support him. "G" has been threatened by his family and others for his faith but he stands strong. He has made the move from despair to hope. Pray for "G" and for the other new believers. Pray for the seekers who are coming to study the Word regularly in the seekers class. Pray for those who are in despair that they can find hope. Pray for us as we seek to minister to these people we love. Thank you for being a part of this ministry through your prayers, encouragement and financial support. We love you all.

Serving Him Together,
Kent and Myrna Morley
Tripoleos 76
Elliniko 16777
Athens Greece
011 30 210 96 38 625
backhoeboy1@juno.com
http://kent-uniquelymorley.blogspot.com
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