A Blog by Belinda Bauman

Advent has a very special place in the Bauman household.  We light the candles, we sing the songs, we pray the prayers each week.  The little weekly ceremonies have often helped us with that often needed “holy perspective”, giving us an map to follow as we journey to Christmas.  This Advent season has been particularly hard for us.  We find ourselves “mourning” on a number of fronts.  Stephan recently wrote of the real context of the original advent:

 Bethlehem… Oppression ruled the day. Christmas wasn’t happy yet; it was chaos.

Into this suffering and injustice, into the oppression, the palpable fear, and among the cries of unlikely people,

God pitches his tent.  (http://stephanbauman.com/)

Our good friend and coworker Justin sent this to Stephan and I yesterday.  This was meant to be the kind of private, conversational musing you have over a coffee, hoping for a friend to understand the wrestle going on in your soul– hoping if your friend can understand what you are trying to say, then you can’t be totally off base.  Stephan and I connected with his sentiments, and he bravely agreed to see if his thoughts connected with any of yours as well.  I am deeply grateful to have friends with me on the Advent journey into mourning.

 We pray that the mourning will become the miracle, just as it did on Christmas day…

Justin is a gifted writer and teacher, and he loves the mission of God in this world, and advocates for justice.  From Justin:

I’m sipping coffee and listening to a countrified version of “Run, Run Rudolph” as I read an IRIN article entitled, “DRC: Growing humanitarian needs in Goma.” Can anyone say con-tra-diction?

How long must this go on? My friends, my brothers, my sisters flee for their lives, hope for a ration of food and a place to sleep for a few hours each night where they will not be threatened by a rebel militia group whose fuel is fear and intimidation.

Finding food, shelter, and a place to sleep are literally the last questions that arise in my mind. When I finish working today, I will go home, kiss my wife, play with my two young sons, and eat a hearty dinner, before praying together as a family and having a Bible study. Then, off to bed.

In Goma, a man my age, if he has not already been forcibly recruited into M23, will perhaps wonder if he will ever see his wife and/or children again. He will hope for a small ration of food and, if fortunate, he will have a place to sleep tonight. His prayers to God will include fully-embodied trust in God for the next day. He realizes that his life is fragile and that God alone has control. He lives in the tension between life and death—neither truly living nor truly dying—on a regular basis.

I live in this same place, but I do not realize it as he does. “Run, Run Rudolph” and Caribou’s dark roast clouds my mind and my spirit. Nobody has threatened me or my family for a long while, and then, certainly not unto death.

Who lives the greater reality? Who has come to his senses more? Who understands raw trust in God? The one with “options” and “freedom” or the one who has no choice but to lean into his heavenly Father?

I have so many options—where to go to school and what for, whom to marry (already decided), how many kids to have, what kind of career to have, what kind of food I’d like to eat, what to read (forget that I already know how to read), where and how long to sleep, which family members to visit this holiday, what presents to buy and for whom, what car to buy, buying vs. renting a home, what kind of health insurance to purchase… this list, in this country, does not end.

In DR Congo, he trusts in God his Father, or, he despairs to his own demise.

War does not focus our priorities. War destroys, debilitates, orphans, widows, burns, diminishes, breeds hatred, and produces more war.  No; our priorities are truly focused when we see what is against what could be—the current state of our world versus God’s design for this earth. Our priorities are truly focused when we are able to see clearly—that we coffee-sippers and “Run, Run Rudolph” listeners are just as fragile and weak as our brother, as our sister, in DR Congo, whose eyes and lives have been illuminated to the true state of affairs both in the heavenlies and on earth.

Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. This was declared prophetically in anticipation of His advent. It seems that, this season, our focus should be on peace, shalom, rather than on the Americanized ideal of “Christmas.” Real Christmas is about “Peace on earth.”

Lord Christ, awaken me

to my fragility.

In you I trust.

In you I must

find myself.

Do not let the cloud of commercialization

that plagues our nation,

descend upon my mind—

deliver me from this evil—

that does not let me see

what Christmas—and life—is meant be.

Justin Kaufman  serves at World Relief as the Executive Assistant to the President/CEO, Stephan Bauman. He is a husband to Heidi, father to Grayson and Hudson, and leader who desires justice and peace to reign “on earth as it is in heaven,” fully expressed through the Body of Christ to all nations. He likes to write, read, and sleep when he is not working, playing with his kids, or taking his wife on a date.

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Dear FRIENDS,

Lynne Hybels has a most beautiful and effective way with words.  She portrays a person or a circumstance with commitment to integrity and to the hope to be found there.  Her latest post on Congo from Lynnehebels.com is compelling and real. I wanted to included it here for those following the news on Congo   Please, open your hearts to…

The Faces I’ve Seen in Congo

In October of 2009 my friend, Christine Anderson, and I traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with World Relief to learn more about the tragic, ongoing civil war in which over 5,000,000 people had died, hundreds of thousands had been displaced from their homes, and brutal rape was used as a weapon of war. (According to educated estimates a woman is raped every minute in the DRC.)

After that trip I started a fundraising campaign called Ten for Congo, challenging American women to donate just $10 to support programs of healing for Congolese women.

In June 2012, Christine and I returned to the DRC with five additional American women, plus three women who couldn’t travel with us but supported our trip with prayer, blogging and raising funds.  With that trip, Ten for Congo morphed from ten dollars for Congo to ten women for Congo.  My Congo Journal, which starts here tells the recent story of Ten for Congo, and contains lots of accessible information about the DRC.  If you feel any nudge from God’s spirit to stand in solidarity with the dear people of Congo, please read the series of blog posts.

Our trip to Congo last June was almost cancelled because of escalating violence in the Rutshuru region we were planning to visit.  We left home anyway, praying we’d be able to enter Congo, and we did!  We spent 4 days in Ruthshuru, hearing the stories of women who had been violently brutalized, but were finding hope and healing through compassion committees in their local churches.  We met with pastors and church volunteers who had build homes for widows and were helping to mediate local conflicts in their communities.  We were devastated by what we saw and heard in Ruthshuru, but also exhilarated by hope that can blossom in the most desperate situations when followers of Jesus live out their calling as healers and peacemakers.

Sadly, just days after we left Rutshuru, the region was taken over by the same, vicious M23 rebels who are now fighting in the streets of Goma, threatening to take control of that town of 700,000 people.

The situation in Congo today is grave—worse than it’s been in years.  Many of the people suffering there today have faces I recognize.  If you read my Congo Journal, you too will have faces to put on the faceless conflict in Congo.  Those faces will haunt you, but I guarantee you will learn what I have learned: that it is an unspeakable privilege to carry in our heart and mind the face of a child of God who is suffering.  It is life lived on the edge of the unseen.

The World Relief staff in Goma is gathered behind closed doors, forced there by the fighting raging in the streets even as I write.  But they are strategizing, praying, and preparing to respond to the emergency crisis they will face when the doors open.  Please pray for them and give generously to support their work athttp://worldrelief.org/Page.aspx?pid=2986.

For more information about Ten for Congo, please visit our Facebook page.

PS  A month ago I spoke at a retreat for forty Palestinian Christian women in Bethlehem, West Bank.  The woman who invited me to speak asked me to tell the Palestinian women about the women in Congo.  I hesitated to do it, because I knew these Palestinian women lived very difficult lives and I didn’t want to add another burden for them to carry.  But my friend insisted, so I told the stories of Congo.  In a spontaneous offering, these 40 women donated $1000 for their sisters in Congo.  You can read about that amazing experience here.

Donate to World Relief’s work in the DR Congo

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The valley is in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.

The shadow is the long shadow of war. War immediate and present.

I have rarely been present at those moments that are so often memorialized in movies. The birth of a long awaited child. The death of a close friend. The sharing of a long held secret. And war.  However, his morning, I was ushered into a front row seat to war through an email.  

I woke to my “tri-tone” text going off on my phone. Once is normal, but nine minutes later I had 14 notices. I knew something was happening, and I needed to steal my heart and spine.

I prayed first. Then I read a hurried email from my dear friend Charles. He told us that there were soldiers Goma, and one could hear bombs and firefight. He said that the M23 boasted that “They would sleep in Goma tonight”.  He asked us to pray for protection for World Relief staff and all the vulnerable ones they serve.

This happened only 8 hours ago, but my the tears and twitter feeds have made it feel like weeks. I checked my email every 15 minutes, minimum. In between I prayed and asked many others to pray. And many, many, many did pray. Thank God.

A few minutes ago, I received this from Charles   Names have been removed and rearranged to protect, but outside of that, it is real.  War is happening now, and this is the front row.  This is a real email from a real man in a real and violent place.  

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

9pm
I have just talked with World Relief staff and with a few other Goma friends. There is some random shooting inside Goma town itself, the conflict is at a standstill with the M23 backed up at the top of the hill before the northern gates of Goma negotiating with the MONUSCO who have thrown up a barricade saying ‘you shall advance no further’. Negotiations are underway and it is said that delegations of ministers from Kinshasa and the Francophone group are winging their way to Bukavu as we speak and then we assume thence to Goma in the morning.

There are a few vehicles on the streets but everything is very quiet tonight. Kapalata has made the rounds to the houses of every staff member to make certain that they are OK and have enough provisions, etc. The office has been closed tomorrow as we continue to assess the situation.

Your continued prayers are essential as everyone walks through this shadow in this particular valley and as we wait for what the late night and early morning will bring.

God will bring us through this terrible time, we are certain of that.

Charles 

 World Relief Country Director 

Goma, DRC

The front row is a place of responsibility   We are here, they are there.  The staff of World Relief Congo are strong and determined people.

They will rise. And they will raise others as they stand.  There is hope; it has names and faces and heartbeats.  What despair I felt this morning has become blessed gratefulness for real, courageous people who love and give themselves freely in wartime and in peace. The are there, in Goma right now.  Thank God.

A brilliant friend responded to one of my posts today with a question… “What do we do?”

If you were to ask a Congolese mother fleeing for her life how to help her,  she would plead for you to pray for her children. And we do…

You can give to help Congo here: http://worldrelief.myshopify.com/collections/crisis-to-peace

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A phrase many Congolese know well…

What will it take to bring peace in one of the most dangerous places in the world?  Much.  Political will from the UN, from other nations, from tech companies and consumers, and for the world to pay attention.

And maybe many little things as well.

If you can call 700 people all joined together for a common cause “little”.  Each of them choose the 4 mile, 10 K or a half marathon to be a part of.  They did this to bellow, yell and rise up for the sake of peace in Congo. They raised over $75,000 to supply grassroots peace committees with what they need to help those being “trampled by elephants”. Each of these heroes at Fellowship Missionary Church choose to consider others before themselves, and sacrificed to be a part of something very, very special.

Words are not enough.   Watch and let the hope sink in deep.  Then, join us in prayer as the grass is made stronger against the fighting elephants.

Sasa Ni Wikati Wa Amani!! Now is the time for Peace!!

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STANDing shoulder to shoulder!

To all our Ten for Congo friends!

I love this picture!! I have had the privilege of standing shoulder to shoulder with these amazing, persevering men and women living in the epicenter of one of the most dangerous war zones on the planet. there has not been a day since my return three months ago that I have not thought about these friends.

Thought About their strength, their beauty, their sheer courage. and about their need. This is why I began training to run a half marathon. I wanted to honor of their strength and courage. And to help raise funds for the world relief Congo staff working directly for peace at the point of conflict. I saw the work these heroes do first hand, and it is nothing short of excellent. the shoestring budget they do it on us nothing short of miraculous.

The Ten for Congo team is so grateful to have 100 FB friends and followers. Would you consider giving up a ten for the Ten? Ten dollars from each of you would be a beautiful one thousand dollars that would go quickly to work in the very heart of the conflict in Congo… To help empower Congo to be the hero of her own story!

The race is in fort Wayne, indiana on September 20,2012. I, my husband and the CEO of world relief stephan Bauman, and 500 of our co-laborers for peace will run the full 13.2 miles of the half marathon called Race4Peace Congo. Our sons, Joshua and Caleb will be running the cumulative marathon a over the next three weeks, logging 26.2 miles in solidarity witch Congo.

You see… We all have a part!

Go to http://worldrelief.org/baumanfamily to donate a ten for the Ten…

I promise I will post pictures of the whole Bauman family finishing so you know that your money went to motivate runners with a cause!!

Thanks to you all in advance!!

Belinda for the whole Bauman Fam

http://worldrelief.org/baumanfamily

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