Bendi

meet Bendi. It's short for "bendición," which is Spanish for "blessing."

loving life

I read the article (below) in the WSJ on Monday, and it was really convicting. "Convicting?" You may ask, incredulous at my choice of words. But yes, it stands; the article was convicting.

Not obviously, and not directly, but reading it as a Christian whose main goal for life should be to die to herself and live to Christ, convicting. Because really, how much do we cling to this life out of desperation, because it is all we have, all we can see ... where is the faith in Christ and the hope of heaven? Those two things should vault us upward to the point of saying, and really meaning, what our Brother Paul said: "To live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1.21)

There is a man from the church that I grew up in, and he is dying. Of course, we are all dying, and somewhat dead already, but this man is being physically assaulted with the death of his body. I mean cancer, strokes, you name it. Christians are rallying to the family's side, praying for healing. Amen. According to the will of God, to display His power and bring Jesus glory, so be it!

But what if he dies?

Is God not good anymore, to allow that suffering to his family? Au contraire, is God not good now, to allow that suffering to this man's own life?

Biblically, the righteous "man perishes, and no man takes it to heart; and devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from evil, he enters into peace; they rest in their beds, each one who walked in his upright way." (Isaiah 57.1-2, emphasis mine)

Beloved, there is more to true life than what we call 'life'. More than the pursuits of earthly gain, more than the quest for happiness. What we see is not what we get. The image in the mirror will fade, will change, and then will be transformed forever when Christ comes back. This is not all there is.

I am frustrated with my own lack of desire to leave this life. How come the Muslims are the ones willing to die for their faith, shouldn't that place be reserved for the Holy People of the Most High God, who actually have a truth worth dying for? Shouldn't we be living (in Christ alone) out the death to sin, willing to forsake even blood and breath for the kingdom? Isn't God that great of a reality, that worthy of everything, that good...

isn't He worth it?

article from the Wall Stree Journal 3.3.08

OPINION

Worshippers of Death

By ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ
March 3, 2008; Page A17

Zahra Maladan is an educated woman who edits a women's magazine in Lebanon. She is also a mother, who undoubtedly loves her son. She has ambitions for him, but they are different from those of most mothers in the West. She wants her son to become a suicide bomber.

At the recent funeral for the assassinated Hezbollah terrorist Imad Moughnaya -- the mass murderer responsible for killing 241 marines in 1983 and more than 100 women, children and men in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994 -- Ms. Maladan was quoted in the New York Times giving the following warning to her son: "if you're not going to follow the steps of the Islamic resistance martyrs, then I don't want you."

Zahra Maladan represents a dramatic shift in the way we must fight to protect our citizens against enemies who are sworn to kill them by killing themselves. The traditional paradigm was that mothers who love their children want them to live in peace, marry and produce grandchildren. Women in general, and mothers in particular, were seen as a counterweight to male belligerence. The picture of the mother weeping as her son is led off to battle -- even a just battle -- has been a constant and powerful image.

Now there is a new image of mothers urging their children to die, and then celebrating the martyrdom of their suicidal sons and daughters by distributing sweets and singing wedding songs. More and more young women -- some married with infant children -- are strapping bombs to their (sometimes pregnant) bellies, because they have been taught to love death rather than life. Look at what is being preached by some influential Islamic leaders:

"We are going to win, because they love life and we love death," said Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. He has also said: "[E]ach of us lives his days and nights hoping more than anything to be killed for the sake of Allah." Shortly after 9/11, Osama bin Laden told a reporter: "We love death. The U.S. loves life. That is the big difference between us."

"The Americans love Pepsi-Cola, we love death," explained Afghani al Qaeda operative Maulana Inyadullah. Sheik Feiz Mohammed, leader of the Global Islamic Youth Center in Sydney, Australia, preached: "We want to have children and offer them as soldiers defending Islam. Teach them this: There is nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a mujahid." Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech: "It is the zenith of honor for a man, a young person, boy or girl, to be prepared to sacrifice his life in order to serve the interests of his nation and his religion."

How should Western democracies fight against an enemy whose leaders preach a preference for death?

The two basic premises of conventional warfare have long been that soldiers and civilians prefer living to dying and can thus be deterred from killing by the fear of being killed; and that combatants (soldiers) can easily be distinguished from noncombatants (women, children, the elderly, the infirm and other ordinary citizens). These premises are being challenged by women like Zahra Maladan. Neither she nor her son -- if he listens to his mother -- can be deterred from killing by the fear of being killed. They must be prevented from succeeding in their ghoulish quest for martyrdom. Prevention, however, carries a high risk of error. The woman walking toward the group of soldiers or civilians might well be an innocent civilian. A moment's hesitation may cost innocent lives. But a failure to hesitate may also have a price.

Late last month, a young female bomber was shot as she approached some shops in central Baghdad. The Iraqi soldier who drew his gun hesitated as the bomber, hands raised, insisted that she wasn't armed. The soldier and a shop owner finally opened fire as she dashed for the stores; she was knocked to the ground but still managed to detonate the bomb, killing three and wounding eight. Had the soldier and other bystanders not called out a warning to others -- and had they not shot her before she could enter the shops -- the death toll certainly would have been higher. Had he not hesitated, it might have been lower.

As more women and children are recruited by their mothers and their religious leaders to become suicide bombers, more women and children will be shot at -- some mistakenly. That too is part of the grand plan of our enemies. They want us to kill their civilians, who they also consider martyrs, because when we accidentally kill a civilian, they win in the court of public opinion. One Western diplomat called this the "harsh arithmetic of pain," whereby civilian casualties on both sides "play in their favor." Democracies lose, both politically and emotionally, when they kill civilians, even inadvertently. As Golda Meir once put it: "We can perhaps someday forgive you for killing our children, but we cannot forgive you for making us kill your children."

Civilian casualties also increase when terrorists operate from within civilian enclaves and hide behind human shields. This relatively new phenomenon undercuts the second basic premise of conventional warfare: Combatants can easily be distinguished from noncombatants. Has Zahra Maladan become a combatant by urging her son to blow himself up? Have the religious leaders who preach a culture of death lost their status as noncombatants? What about "civilians" who willingly allow themselves to be used as human shields? Or their homes as launching pads for terrorist rockets?

The traditional sharp distinction between soldiers in uniform and civilians in nonmilitary garb has given way to a continuum. At the more civilian end are babies and true noncombatants; at the more military end are the religious leaders who incite mass murder; in the middle are ordinary citizens who facilitate, finance or encourage terrorism. There are no hard and fast lines of demarcation, and mistakes are inevitable -- as the terrorists well understand.

We need new rules, strategies and tactics to deal effectively and fairly with these dangerous new realities. We cannot simply wait until the son of Zahra Maladan -- and the sons and daughters of hundreds of others like her -- decide to follow his mother's demand. We must stop them before they export their sick and dangerous culture of death to our shores.

Mr. Dershowitz teaches law at Harvard University and is the author of "Finding Jefferson" (Wiley, 2007).

See all of today's editorials and op-eds, plus video commentary, on Opinion Journal.

And add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum.

link to the original article here.

i am a gentle warrior?

well, i don't know about the middle part, but i like the idea of this slogan:

"i am a gentle warrior."

because as Christians, we are called to emulate the gentleness, compassion,
humility, and servanthood of Christ; all in the midst of this perpetual battle
against the kingdom of darkness. armor-clad servants, warring lovers,
humble soldiers. amazing.

i met one such man just yesterday. A missionary to the Czech Republic for 15
years, looking at him was the closest i've been so far to gazing on the face of
God. not to worship Roger, not at all; but to stand in awe of God as i came
into contact with one of His humble servants, a kind-hearted warrior in the
kingdom. it was a true blessing. i'm still in wonderment about it all! but really,
he reminded me of Jesus, more than anyone i think i've met so far. and that was
awesome. Jesus is amazing.

example 4

example 3

this little Iraqi girls' parents were both killed (if I remember correctly from the story)
and she was shot in the head but not fatally wounded. as she recovered, she was inconsolable
except by this officer, who proceeded to spend 4 nights sleeping in this chair, holding
this child so that she would finally sleep.

she is recovering well.

example 2

"the battle is the Lord's"

example 1

strength and compassion

As Christians, we wear such heavy and strong armor (the armor of God), but we clothe ourselves with gentleness and compassion; soft-hearted warriors. What does this look like, since it seems to be a dichotomy?

it’s the armor-clad soldier bending down to hug a child -

the stern-faced officer leaning in to hear a woman share her story through sobs -

the policeman who cuts his widow-neighbor’s yard -

the president who serves his wife.

men of great compassion, laden down with status, forgetting their position, lowering themselves gladly:

this is here our calling, this is what it is; to know with every heartbeat just who we are to Him

then taking that, our story, to nations and to towns, giving praise and glory to the God who came and found

it’s humbly serving others, putting their needs first, showing Jesus’ love to them in squalor, filth, and dirt

it’s cleaning someone’s dishes, caring for their kids, wrapping up their Christmas gifts when the parents are both sick

it’s taking out the garbage with a smile, for your wife, it’s hearing children laugh and play, and joining in their life

strength and compassion, soldier and servant, embodied in one flesh, united at last.

what it all comes down to, is being like Christ.

“… who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2.6-8

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves…” Philippians 2.3-5a

“…seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” 2 Peter 1.3

yet another quote

Corita Kent - "Life is a succession of moments, To live each one is to succeed."

quote.

This, believe it or not, was found on a "congratulations" card the small group gave to Dave as we 'celebrated,' in essence, his going to Jordan next week.

"at last the ladder, which had been built slowly, slowly, one hope at a time, reached up to the clouds. And the dreamer began to climb."

i liked that.