Do You Know How Blessed You Are?

I have a friend I met in college who is currently planting churches in India. I received an update from him today that broke my heart. He wrote about a recent trip to bring aid to the persecuted Christians there. You see, in certain regions of that country, if you claim to follow Jesus and especially if you invite others to do the same, you're a target. He told of a man who survived an attack but whose entire family died - his mother, father, brothers and sisters. This man is all alone now. He sent pictures of houses that were burned with families still in them. One man was pulled out of his house and set on fire while his family was forced to watch him die. Another man told of how the terrorists forced him to watch while they buried his brother alive. As they piled the dirt on top of him, he begged for mercy. Their reply?..."You say that your God brings people back from the dead? Let's see him do it for you."

Pray for Christians who are being terrorized in countries like India and China and all over the world that they would remain faithful and the church would continue to grow. But also remember this. Every week, we encourage CCCer's to go into their world and invite friends to come and find Jesus. Sometimes we do it. Most times we don't. But either way, we have no earthly idea what a blessing it is just to be afforded the opportunity to make that invitation freely. Many of our brothers and sisters around the world don't.