The International Day of Prayer (IDOP)

The International Day of Prayer (IDOP) for the Persecuted Church was this past Sunday and we saw a video about it at church which drove home the fact that every 5 minutes a Christian is matyred and numerous others persecuted, imprisoned or killed.

Our pastor asked us to be bold in support of our faith like Peter and John were when they were pulled in for questioning after healing the man at the Gate Beautiful. In fact, Pastor Joseph and many others have extended observance of IDOP to a week of prayer and fasting because of the seriousness of this growing humanitarian crisis.

I've been praying and fasting too... in the dark with a single candle (which represents "the light of the world" that we Christian are to be), a prayer shawl and a small clock that ticks a loud 5 minute count down. Every time I think I'm hungry (which is often) or my stomach growls, I try to think of a Christian in a North Korean prison on meager food rations... when my body hurts (which is often too)I think about a man sore and bruised in India or Saudi Arabia... beaten only because he believes in Our Lord... When the candle blows out and I'm left in darkness, I mourn those Christians killed in Egypt, Iraq, Somalia... And I think, "tick-tock"...