Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Passport (07/25/05)
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TITLE: To Live Without Mercy | Previous Challenge Entry
By giuseppe silvestro
07/27/05 -
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He told her he would be back in three weeks but it was not to be so. He had harmed no one and meant no threat of any reason to anyone. Oh but he was a threat. A voice from within spoke. To carry the message of Jesus was a threat to hostile forces in Sudan. A Muslim nation warrants no peace or liberty to those that oppose its ideologies. Jesus carried not a cross but a burning sword to Sudanese rebels.
His commands shed tears of compassion for his followers but the rebels shed blood in great torrents. She looked at her wedding ring and watched as the diamond twinkled in the light. It had been 20 years ago that they wedded their minds, souls and bodies as one. And in two days and one night it was torn asunder. The phone call from the American embassy was short and to the point. The rebels had captured their camp site and burned their tents and bibles. They were held hostage but not for ransom but perhaps out of spite.
The rebels had taken the missionary’s camcorder and used it for play. They mocked interviewed their hostages while striking their faces with brutal force. One of the women was a sister of the Catholic church. She wore a blue veil and matching pants. “May the peace of God be with you. Do not do this thing. It is not from God.” She had cried as she was beat with a metal baton. “It is not of your God.” The rebel had spat on the video.
Her husband stood on his knees as he was bound and gagged. He struggled to release himself as the rebels beat the sister down to the wet ground.
The American embassy had sent her a copy of the tape. It was the last image she had of her husband. His actions of the tape spoke of boldness and love of humanity. He had managed to rise up and he moved in front of the sister to block the beating. “Oh, you think you are brave?” The rebel questioned. “Where is your Jesus now?” The rebel laughed.
Her husband held his ground and did not move. The rebel smacked him across the face and spit into his eyes. “You Christian pig!” He yelled. “You risk your life for an old nun? A woman?” He snorted. The husband tried to speak but his gag silenced his voice. “Oh you want to speak?” He said. The rebel removed his gag and said, “What do have to say before you die?” “I may die but I will rise to live and you will not see the light of God. You follow ways of death and not of glory. You strike the innocent…” The bullets logged into his forehead. His sentence unfinished and his death brought on by empty reason. The video tape captured these moments as a living testimony of one man’s faith in the good things of God.
She closed her eyes again and held on to the only thing she had left of him was his passport that they had sent back with the tape. It was the only thing that brought comfort to her spirit. The passport was stamped from all over the world from his many missionary trips. Her husband lived the life he choose and lived by the way, the truth and the life sent forth by Jesus, Lord of Lords. She knew in heart that he was right. He may have died but he had arisen to the glory of God. The plane began its descent as she placed the passport in her purse. She was taking his body back home for burial but in her heat she knew her husband was not dead but alive. Amen.
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