Rescue Iraq

Speaking of Leviticus

Perhaps, in your entire life, this phrase will never be heard: "Speaking of Leviticus." Like who wants to dredge up a book of the Bible like Leviticus? How many have really read it, or seriously studied it? Yet, I propose that it is one of the most important books of the Bible. Why? You may ask.

Let me backtrack a bit.

This morning as I opened my Bible I realized I was a bit behind in my scheduled Bible reading. Two days behind actually, which meant I had 30 chapters to read, and lucky me, Leviticus, chapter 1 was my starting point.

Now, I know there must be some folks out there that have dared to part the pages of this Levitical tome, but how many have actually read it straight through in one sitting? I mean, it almost sounds like some torture thought up by a Bible Professor for his incoming Freshman class.

I mean, I don't know anyone that would find themselves locked in some Bible debate, then bring up a finer point of the book by saying, "speaking of Leviticus..." I mean, will that ever happen?

Journey with me for a moment if you will into this legalistic of all books for there are some insights waiting to be discovered if we'll simply take the time.

What is the essence of the book? LAW

Of course, this the main reason most people don't find it applicable in today's era of GRACE.

But, let's break it down a little bit more, here real quick:

• Laws of Acceptable Approach to God - namely how to properly sacrifice to God
• Priestly Laws - how they are to be properly anointed and set apart for God's service
• Laws Regarding Purity - how the people ought to keep themselves holy and clean
• Laws Regarding National Santification - how to properly appear before the Lord on the Day of Atonement... and on and on and on...

You could read them yourself, but you probably don't want to.

But, let me give you a reason to look at Leviticus in a more favorable light.

This one book, more than any of the other books of the Torah, and for that matter the whole Old Testament, must have been the daily musings of who? The Priests, right, for something like 1,500 years and beyond.

It holds the keys to the very definition of Judaism, and sets the Jews apart from every other nation on earth. And up until the time of Christ, this book contained the very "plan of salvation" if you will of every person on earth. For to become a part of the fellowship of God prior to Christ, one must first become a Jew. Is that not right? [Living like them at the very least.] Here it all is in all of it's legal stipulations.

But, you are quick to say, "we have died to the law with all of it's stipulations," and all I can say is a glorious, "Hallelujah!"

Have you ever stopped to consider this verse in Jeremiah, "... I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah... I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

Reading the book of Leviticus this morning made me so overjoyed to know that this book of strident laws with alarming consequences, is now one of heart felt knowledge with God's abundant grace covering all who comes to Him.

Looking back to the centuries and centuries before Christ, have you ever wondered about the number of sacrifices that occurred on a daily basis merely to atone for those people who sinned unintentionally? It must have been staggering. How could someone keep all of those laws, let alone remember them all?

And the results for trangressing those laws are vividly portrayed in the slaying of two of Aaron's sons for bringing improper fire and incense before the Lord. Do you see the stringentness of these commands? That even the High Priest's sons are instantly declared defiled before the Lord and put to death.

The Law came with such terrible fear that honestly was God's intention, "Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.'" (Exodus 20:20) 

Do we really realize what Jesus has saved us from?

Reading some more in Leviticus, we find what is imperitave to the entire Biblical narrative in chapter 17, "It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible." (NLT)

How in the world does the Bible make sense without this concept being implicitly and properly defined? And where else in the Bible do we find it? In Hebrews we find that, "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness," barely a mention, but oh, so important.

Then, at the end of Leviticus we find the "blessings for obedience" and the "punishments for disobedience". Two thousand years and one great act on the Cross, separate us from a life with these blessings and curses just hanging over our heads.

That's why we see Peter, in the book of Acts declaring before the assembly of leaders of the church in Jerusalem, "why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?" (15:10)

There is only one possible outcome from trying to obey the laws stipulated in the book of Leviticus, an abject feeling of failure, separation from God, without hope from ever being redeemed. Which is precisely the position God brings us to before He shows us Christ.

I contend that without this feeling of failure and complete helplessness before a righteous and holy God, one cannot properly declare Jesus Christ his Savior.

What need have we of a savior, if our lives are o.k., salvagable by some ingenious work of self-help or internal guidance or luck?

One cannot properly understand the Gospel, and the reason for Christ's death without first understanding the Law that points it's accusing finger at our lives. And it is in the book of Leviticus that this is declared more than anywhere else with such finality and immoveable truth.

So, pick up your Bible again and peel apart the pages between the books of Exodus and Numbers. See the Law in a new light.

Where it was previously believed and emphatically true that "salvation is found in no one else, for there is no name under Heaven given to men, by which we must be saved, the name of the High Priest of God's Temple," today, now rings with a different tone that we are more familiar with that personalizes the High Priest in the very Son of God, who became for you and for me, the ultimate sacrifice -- attested to by the very hand of God tearing in two the dividing wall in the temple forevermore, and in that act putting to death the rules taught and enforced by the High Priest, opening a new era where the very laws of God are now written on man's hearts.

Without Christ, Leviticus would be our "4 spiritual laws", reminding us constantly of the heavy weight of sin, the falleness of man, and the righteousness and holiness of our God.

Keeping the Law would be our constant fear as the perennial "bad news" that would supposedly help keep us from sinning.

Still, it is the faithful and true word of God, AND praised be to God that He has opened up for us a new way, a new path where righteousness from God is obtained by faith, which is emphatically foolishness to the Gentiles and a stumbling block to Jews but for us it is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.

Can you see how this book ought to evoke in us the deepest sense of gratitude, thankfulness, and indebtedness to God's perfect plan of salvation through the shedding of His own's son's blood?

Do you need a pick me up today? Then, read Leviticus and be absorbed into all from which God has set you free -- "canceling the written code against you", and take a cue from King David, "Your laws have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You."

Amazing to see isn't it how desperately the book of Leviticus is so fundamental to our faith.

"He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." Colossians 2:13b-15

Getting Involved

We have had so many visitors seeking to be a part of God’s work amongst the Kurdish people, just in the last year and a half we’ve helped host 15 international teams. This is in addition to having our own local friends stay with us on another 10 separate occasions. Our home has seemed like a revolving door sometimes as guest after guest pays us a visit and the shoes pile up at our front door.

God must be up to something.

One of the things that really makes this possible is the wonderful home he has provided for us. We have an entire extra floor with 3 spare bedrooms, bathroom, full kitchen, and living area so that visiting teams can feel more at home. Also, many in-country expat groups have made use of our space to hold their own team retreats, personal retreats, and even mini-vacations as we are located up in the mountains amongst some beautiful surroundings.

In addition to the extra floor we have a smaller top floor that naturally became our “Upper Room” where we hope to encourage all of our guests to sow seeds of prayer into this land.

Some of the activities that we’ve been a part of with these groups have been: prayer walking the neighborhoods, passing out Samartian’s Purse Boxes and other humanitarian aid, visiting with local Kurds in outlying villages as well as in the bigger cities, refugee camps, meeting with government officials, joining in local soccer games, hosting soccer camps and games for the children, even arranging for some simple diagnosis and treatment with the help of doctors from the States.



And now, that our community center is nearing its initial stage of usefulness with the completion of the conference room/women’s center, we have even bigger plans to reach out and help the local community with an emphasis on the widows and orphans in our region.

Please be in prayer for us as we begin to offer classes. Pray for wisdom to know what direction to take, the proper teachers for us to work with, and for God’s grace and favor to cover it all.

If you would like to take part in this ministry and get your shoes on the ground here in Northern Iraq, write us an email, and we’ll see what opportunities the Lord opens up.

Soccer Days

Well, we wouldn't be touching the Kurdish soul if we didn't engage with them on some level with their love of soccer. So, this past fall, we coordinated with two Brazilian soccer players, one who used to play professionally to put on an incredible 5 day soccer clinic complete with a final, organized tournament.

We opened it up to the children that live all around our community center, and boy, was it a hit. We only wish we could have allowed more of them to participate.

The first 4 days focused on a different aspect of the game: passing, shooting, dribbling, etc. matching each skill to an important "life lesson" for the children to ponder and take away with them. Then, we divided up the children into different teams representing famous "soccer countries" that competed for the final prize.

All of them got a medal, with special awards given to the top goal scorers, top overall players, and the winningest teams.

Both girls and boys participated, so when the final day arrived the stadium was converged upon by masses of parents and extended family to root for their favorites. What a day it was!

Perhaps, you can capture a bit of the excitement in the following pics:

A Pajama Day for a New Year

The first day of the year began slowly. Getting up we looked out the window to see a multi-chrome picture of greying skies without the least bit of evidence of our helium engorged friend.

It was clearly one of those days. As I was trying to figure out our new, fangled coffee maker my eyes started to swim and my body instantly told me that it did not like my bi-pedal stance. Quickly back to the bedroom I sank into bed with my wife’s words hanging over me, “maybe you just need to stay in bed today.”

For the past 3 days we had been traveling around Kurdistan back and forth from the capital city a couple of times, down the Kirkuk road to visit some earthquake refugees, and over to another Kurdish college town to visit some dear friends with children the same ages as our own. It was a fun-filled time, but nevertheless, exhausting.

New Year’s Eve passed somewhat prematurely at the Ray home as we crawled into bed well before the midnight hour. And now, it was New Year’s Day with the sinus pressure in my head making even thinking a chore.

Dawn prayed for me, then passed me some blueberry muffins and a hot cup of coffee. Ahhh, marriage, isn’t it wonderful!

Before I knew it I was up again, but keeping the pjs on in case my world decided to suddenly take another quick spin. No pressing work to do on New Year’s Day anyway, I thought to myself.

Kurdistan in the winter can be quite the dreary place up here in the mountains.

The rain has been constant the last few days making our world a very muddy, wet place indeed; lack of proper drainage canals or even proper roads make it all the worse.

While in the summer we regularly complain of not having enough water, in the winter, water damage is the norm: water seeping right through our walls, peeling back the paint, dribbling through the window frames and turning our house into a slick, damp, cold habitation. When you’ve got cement walls, well, you just have to live with it.

 

The morning temperature reading stays in the upper 40s most days – that’s inside the house mind you. Outside it usually hovers in the 30s, and this is Iraq you say??? Yes, this is Iraq at 2,300 feet above sea level with mountains as high as 8,500 feet at our door step. With extremes like this perhaps you can forgive the people for being well, a little extreme.

Summer time temperatures reach nearly 125 F, yet right now you’d never guess it as we huddle together in one room around a kerosene heater. We’ve all but forgotten that we have a second and third floor in our house – that’s the “see your breath” parts of the house that we try to avoid.

Central Heating? Ah, no.

This is probably not the picture of Iraq you have seen on television, and it certainly doesn’t hold for the whole of the country. Traveling just 2 hours south of us and down to about 400 feet above sea level, the capital city of Iraqi-Kurdistan, Erbil, rarely sees the kind of rain we get here, as life goes on almost in a near season-less cycle. It’s amazing what a few mountains can do to the regional climate.

We love our trips to Erbil now and then, to get out of the damp mountains and feel some warmer, dry air on our faces. But, we’d just left Erbil the day before, and today, I needed to face not only the wet weather, but a new year to boot.

The day wore on and still my pajamas clung to me, more like pasted to me. I’d been wearing the same socks for nearly 48 hours with long johns beneath. It had been more than a couple days since I showered. Taking a shower is kind of an extreme sport here when the tile floor feels cold enough to give you frost bite.

But by the afternoon, a warm, hot shower finally beckoned to me, so I placed one of our kerosene heaters into the bathroom to warm it up a bit, but alas, no hot water. Dawn had used up the hot water to do laundry, guess this new year’s day is turning more grim than I thought. Maybe I should have stayed in bed.

As the afternoon turned into evening, our power supply always makes a switch from the government electricity that we get from about 1-5pm, to a community/neighborhood generator that gives us another 5-6 hours of power (albeit reduced wattage), before the government power kicks back in through the night. The mornings (9-1pm) we usually do not have power and folks around here have just learned to live with that; for, it’s actually much better than it has been in years past.

We’re not sure exactly why yet, but whenever our power switches from government power to community power our fuse box flips requiring some oversight: the box is on the street by our house.

Below is a photo of our electrician with my neighbor holding the ladder, who came to our house no less than 10 times in the past 2 months to help us with our electricity. Here he is untangling the wires of our generator power cable and just below him you can see a little yellow cover (a Valvoline oil container cut in two) that contains our fuse box.

“Climbing” up the pole where the box is mounted means one thing to me – I better get some clothes on. So, as the sun begins to set (around 4:30 here in the mountains on the far eastern side of the time zone), I’m finally putting on some jeans and a sweater to go flip our switch back on.  After flipping switch at least 7 times it finally sticks, and the lights in the house turn back on. Ahh, electricity.

As you can probably see, Kurdistan has a way of reminding one to be thankful for all the little things one normally forgets.

As the New Year dawns, I pray we’ll find our hearts more thankful than ever for all that God places into our path whether extreme cold or extreme hot, exciting mountain peaks or boring plodding plains, PJ days or days flooded with activity, gentle winds of friendship or the harsh realities of our sinful world. The New Year is God’s year, and I hope His pleasure beams over us more than it ever has before.

Praises for a New Year!

Checking email last night I was informed that we have received over $28,000 towards the building from one church in Niceville, Florida, (my hometown) the United Methodist Church. They decided to take up an advent offering all through December sharing about our work in Northern Iraq through World Orphans. What a joyous way to open up the new year! We are praising God for His abundant provision which continually flows down.

So, we are looking forward to getting to work.

As we finished out 2011, we literally used up all we had in the coffers to get the conference room ready which is really our welcome room right now. Here are a couple pics to show you the progress:

Next steps include finishing the electrical work for the rest of the building, then plastering the bottom floor, installing windows, then tiling. I'm so excited to see things coming together.

Thank you, Lord, for your abundant provision this New Year, and thank you to all who gave from Niceville First United Methodist Church. You shall surely have an inheritance in all the work that goes on here.

What great things 2012 will have in store for us all!

Reaching out to Earthquake Refugees

In the early afternoon of October 23, 2011, a severe earthquake struck Eastern Turkey turning buildings to piles of rubble within seconds and leaving, some estimate, up to 60,000 Kurds instantly homeless, not to mention over 600 dead. Aid agencies along with the Turkish government tried to alleviate the pain and suffering by offering tents and supplies, but as the winter snows began to pile up around them, many decided to leave their homelands and go south.

Some actually migrated all the way down into Iraq, to the warmer desert plains south of Erbil.

Learning about these new refugee families, a few of us decided to gather up some things to share with them. One of our American friends shared the plight of these Kurds from Van, with his Kurdish neighbors, and they ended up with an entire pick-up truck load of food, blankets, clothes, and other supplies.

Together we headed south to their ‘encampment’ – temporary housing supplied by the Kurdish government.

Because they were Turkish speaking Kurds, we were able to easily converse with them and find out their needs and hear their stories. Dawn was able to empathize with them, in particular, and pray for them having lived through the great Istanbul earthquake of ’99.

The families intend on returning to Van in the late spring, but this was our chance to reach out and share God’s love with those with whom we wouldn’t otherwise have crossed paths.

Pray for these refugees that have lost nearly everything they own and thousands others like them that are eeking out an existence in tents in the cold winter still in Eastern Turkey.