A Painful Faith

Yesterday morning I was writing in my prayer journal (I had picked up the journal I am using at Barnes and Nobles about a month ago. I was pleasantly surprised to find it there, as I was shopping with a Christmas gift card). On the journal's cover is written the words of Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."  As soon as I saw those words on the journal's cover, I knew I had the journal I was looking for! That verse has meant so much to me over the years! In addition to this verse on the cover, inside on every-other-page another verse is printed. So the journal from start to finish contains God's Word! Yes!

As I finished up my journal entry yesterday and went to place the journal down, I noticed the following in fine print on the inside cover: "Printed in China." That struck me as quite the irony. Here is this overtly Christian journal, containing about 100 verses of Scripture, being printed in China, a country ruled by an atheistic communist government. A government that claims to allow religious freedom but in reality does not. A government that has persecuted Christians for decades (according to Voice of the Martyrs, more Christians are in prison or under detention in China than in any other country). Yet in my hands I was holding a prayer journal printed in China! Go figure!

Let me ask you to take a moment before you "sign off" and pray for the church in China (and the persecuted church around the world). Many of our brothers and sisters are paying a high price for their commitment to Christ. For more info, check out the web site of the Voice of the Martyrs at www.persecution.com).

Thanks for stopping by . . .  

pj