The Mountain

I have been following the news about the Yazidi's in the mountains of Iraq.  Many are Christians who are being persecuted and killed.  These people are stuck on the side of a mountain in sweltering heat with no water and no food, knowing going back down means certain death for them and their families.  Most know that even if they convert to Islam they will be killed anyway.  Women have been abducted and sold as slaves.  This will literally be the hill that they are dying on.  The irony that our Savior dies on a hill for these people and now in his name they will find the same fate.  This will be a defining moment in history between the tragedies in Syria, Iraq, Israel, Gaza and Ukraine. This will be what the future generations read about in textbooks and think how did they allow this to happen, the same way I did when I read about the holocaust. I have read it and thought how did other countries go about their normal life while the Jews were in concentration camps?    Now here I am in this generation going about cleaning, cooking, watching tv, taking the kids swimming and going about life while these brothers and sisters in Christ are desperately clinging to life on the side of a mountain for the name of the Savior we share.  At church on Sunday as we sang the worship songs my mind drifted to the mothers on the mountains who are crying out the same name I sang.  I thought about my hills vs her mountain.  Yes God hears it all, but at that moment I saw the size of my hill in comparison and I prayed for her, I sang because she couldn't, my trust in Jesus and faith in my Savior grew because she is my living example of faith.  If faith can put you on the side of a mountain clinging to life while under terrorist threats and you still claim your God, then do I have to wonder if his words are true?  These people have shown the world that their God is bigger then their circumstance.  They understand that to live for Christ is good, but to die for Christ is even better.  Because they understand we are passing through, this is not eternal, this is temporary they are able to sit and wait.  Someday they will come down from that mountain and we will hear about the Corrie Ten Boom of the Yazidi's who prayed with those losing hope, we will hear about the Brother Andrew's who risked their lives on the mountain to bring the Gospel.  We will hear stories of how God worked a miracle and hear about the many who left this temporary home and are now with Jesus out of pain and fear, hearing our Savior say well done good and faithful servant.  It has taught me to keep my eyes on whats eternal, it has shown me the ultimate faith in the face of persecution, it has given me a great appreciation for my freedoms and has shown me how better to pray for the world.  What is your hill or your mountain, were you placed where you are in this time and place to show your faith boldly, to use your freedom to pray or give, to get the gospel to someone else, to carry another's burden, to ask for help