Urgent Prayer Request

Last night, Chet had a terrible time falling asleep. Monday is a very full day for him and is always followed by a long night at UPS, so he really needed to sleep. He had no idea why he couldn't fall asleep. Well, he finally gave up and came out to work on some things. At about 6am, he was on the computer doing some assignments when he saw an e-mail message pop up. It was an e-mail update from a ministry he worked with when he was in India saying that two church leaders and the regional church leader from that area had been severely beaten over the weekend. The regional church leader is the man that Chet spent the most time with there when they traveled around to the villages, etc. and Chet became good friends with him there. They correspond fairly regularly via e-mail.

Back to the story. The three men were invited to go and preach in an area that is largely Muslim and Hindu (not unusual to be invited here). They were told that it would be a crowd of about 2,000 people who were interested in hearing the Gospel and learning more about Christianity (exciting, but not strange either). Well, it was a set-up. When the three men arrived, the very large crowd closed in on them, and they were all severely beaten. Apparently, there were some Muslim imams who stepped into the crowd and ended up breaking it up; otherwise, they may have been killed. It is very unusual for Hindus and Muslims to cooperate with one another, so this gives you a picture of how greatly these particular people despise Christianity.

Chet e-mailed his friend as soon as he heard about it to confirm that it really was him. It was. He's in bed for 10 days healing. As soon as he can, he plans to return to the town to talk to the imams who stepped into the crowd. Please pray for his quick recovery, and PLEASE PRAY THAT HIS LOVE FOR CHRIST AND FOR THESE PEOPLE WILL BE APPARENT AND TRANSFORMING!!!! The other two men may be going back with him also, but I'm not sure about that. Chet's friend has a wife and two children. I'm not sure about the family structure of the other two men. Please pray for their families as well.

Chet was so glad that the Lord kept him awake so that he could receive the message and begin praying immediately. He had a really hard time concentrating in class. He was trying to write a book review and told me that it's really hard to do such crazy things like "writing book reviews for Jesus" when his friend is being beaten because of the Gospel. He had tears in his eyes as he told me that he so wants to be right there by his friend's side and really would like to go with him when he returns to the town in 10 days. We know that it's not possible, but it's definitely a challenge for Chet to be so far away.

Their testimony is a blessing to us, even if we can't be there by their sides. What a neat opportunity also to share this story with our friends (believers and unbelievers). We never know how this type of thing can help people see how valuable the Gospel is and how much passion these men have for the Truth if they're ready to return to this town OUT OF LOVE for the people there and share the reason for the hope they profess.

Chet does realize that his assignments are not pointless and that they are collectively providing preparation for all manner of ministry... but today his heart was in India.

It would be great to let these men know that people from all over the place are praying for them. If you are praying, please comment, and I'll have Chet pass that encouragement on to them.

(On a much less important note, I posted a couple other new entries earlier today, including a description of the system I've put in place to stay on task and another entry with some photos of Chet with the boys.)