It’s funny how I never know what I want to write about when I get time to start for the day.  I usually go and read what everyone else has posted for the day, and then at some point get distracted by some random link and then spend the next 30 minutes scrolling through webpages and news feeds.  Inevitably, I realize it is getting late and decide to open my writing tab so I can at least pretend like I am going to start.  Usually an idea comes within a few minutes of me opening a writing tab.

Star light…star bright…

Today I opened my site, and then popped over to google the meaning of peace again.  I noticed at the bottom of the definition that you can use “peace” as an exclamation.  the exact wording of one of those exclamatory definitions is “an order to remain silent”.

How often do we miss peace because we are not silent.  We have surrounded ourselves with noise, and made sure to fill everyone’s ears with the sound of our own voice.  We miss our chances at little moments of peace.

It reminds me of an old hymn.

“Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin Mother and Child,
holy Infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night, shepherds quake at the sight,
Glories stream from heaven afar, heavenly hosts sing
Alleluia.
Christ the Saviour is born,
Christ the Saviour is born.”

Take a few moments in the silence as you seek peace today.

I have friends on all sides of the political spectrum.  Many of my friends are firmly anti-war.  Many of those same anti-war friends are also libertarian or for restricted government.  So on one hand I hear a lot of arguments to the effect of:  “Lets leave everyone alone to do what they want to do.”  and “We should stay out of the middle east.”.   This group of people often says that the United States needs to stop being “world police”.

Another segment that I will call acquaintances tend to be the type who say “If we just nuked the middle east all of our problems would go away.”  Some of them aren’t quite this harsh, but while the methods may differ, most of them think that destroying our enemies is an appropriate response.   This segment thinks that the United States clearly has a mandate to be the world police.

A large percentage of the people I know fall into one of the two above camps.  There are people who are a mix of both, and perhaps a few who are something unique, but they are a much smaller percentage than the other two camps.

There are a lot of good arguments for keeping the United States government out of the affairs of other governments.  Reduced “blowback” (a favorite phrase of the anti-war friends), reduced spending on international conflicts, more resources focused on solving problems domestically are a few of the benefits they would point out to minding our own business.  Essentially this group likes to be left alone and wants to leave others alone as well.

The pro “world police” sect is often operating under the assumption that we can not allow evil to run rampant, because eventually said evil will come for us.  When you seriously ask them why they feel the way they do, they have many sane arguments for their position.  Unfortunately these sane reasons tend to be overshadowed by what is perceived as blood lust or a desire to impose their will upon others.   The personality that tends to be drawn to this perspective tends to be a powerful personality.

At various times in my life, I have fallen into both camps.  I spent most of my school life as a “world policer”.  Several years ago, I started listening to the news on a regular basis, and found my viewpoints shifting more towards the anti world police stance.  I vacillated between the two viewpoints and have spent some time trying to really figure out where I stood in relation to this argument.

In 2010 I took my first trip out of the country since I went to Germany as a pre-teen in 1997.  It was my very first trip to a developing nation.  In Nicaragua I saw serious and pervasive poverty for the first time, and ever since then I have felt drawn to those who are treated unjustly.   I heard first hand from people who had experienced what they thought were the effects of the Iran-Contra affair, which is a scandal that firmly supports the stance of the anti-police sect.  I heard the bitterness with which a man spoke about the role he felt the United States had played in the poverty the Nicaraguan people now found themselves in.  While the bitterness poured from our translators lips, next to me sat a man who was a former member of the United States military.  He never acknowledged a direct role in the Iran-Contra affair (and very well may have had no role in it), but did later tell me that he had been in a neighboring country in the same time frame.   We never really discussed what he was doing there.

From a dungeon in Nicaragua. Yes. You read that right. Things were pretty rough there once upon a time.

On that trip, the former military member was quite possibly the most caring individual on the team.  His creed for the trip was “see a need, meet a need” and he made it his mission to meet every need he saw.  At one point he was about to swap his boots with a man who desperately needed new ones, but was stopped by the reality that they didn’t have compatible feet.

The man who was bitter with U.S. involvement was also doing great work in his home country, and spent his time serving our team, making sure that we could be effective.  I saw both sides of this story, both men loving and serving each other, even though both had serious “policy disagreements”.

In the last year, I have constantly hoped for more action from our government in the crisis that is beginning to boil-over near the Black Sea.   I would put together a mental wish list of actions that I was hoping for, but within days one of my anti-war friends would draw me back to reality by reminding me that I didn’t really want the U.S. government involved.   I have see-sawed back and forth for months, first on one side of the debate, then on the other.  With the interventions that are happening now in the region, I wish that they would stop because I see they will not be effective.

So where does Peace demand that I stand?  What role am I to play in this whole kerfuffle?  I asked the same question earlier this week, but now I am slightly more prepared to answer it.

I think that for Good to be Good.  It must stand against Evil.  For light to overcome darkness, there must first be some light.

I think I have decided that the worlds governments can not fix the worlds problems.  Governments are too unwieldy and FAR too prone to corruption.  If the day comes that peace deals are struck, they will be struck to serve the people in power, not the people in danger.

I have also decided that choosing to allow evil to continue without resisting it is equally as evil.

I am left knowing that I can only act as one man.  I can act as me.  It isn’t very comforting since I know that I am not very powerful, or very persuasive, or even very well connected.  I am only one guy who occasionally posts things on his blog.  I am afraid, knowing that I could spend my life pursuing peace, and really only find peace for myself.

There is however quite a precedent for one man bringing about incredible change.

I can only try.  Peacefully.

25 Days for Peace is a cooperative blogging experiment between myself and five other artists, designed to explore the facets of peace, particularly centered around this season intended to experience the peace of Christ. Visit this page to see the other contributions to this journey, and like it to join with us in exploring what peace means.

I have not been doing a great job of remembering to tell you all that this year 25 Days for Peace is actually a “cooperative blogging experiment” that has 6 different people with 6 different personalities each creating something from their own perspective about Peace.  It has been awesome to get to read the posts that come in each day, and I feel like I have gotten to know more about each person participating.  In fact, I want to take this time to introduce you to each person currently participating!

Luke is a man of God, a husband, and a father.  I met Luke through our shared past together as employees of Youth for Christ in Northwest Ohio.  Every week, Luke reaches out to struggling teens and challenges them to consider who Christ could be to them.  As a minister of the gospel, he is willing to engage students where they are, and stand by their side as the struggle to grow.  Luke and I often don’t agree on a lot of things, but when our disagreements turn particularly passionate, Luke has always been the one to reopen the door of relationship between us.  I can remember several times where he has apologized (not for what he believes) but for how he pursued the argument.  I would often find myself apologizing in return because I knew I was out of line as well.  Luke sought to bring peace to our relationship, without compromising his positions.  I am glad to call him a friend.

I don’t know that I have ever actually met Beth in person (although I suspect we may have found ourselves at some events together unaware of each other).  When I put out an open invitation to participate in this project, she was the only one who responded without a direct invitation from me.  While I don’t know much about her in a personal way, I have gotten to know about her heart for Nicaragua, and her plans to serve there as a missionary when God’s timing allows it.  I must admit that I was a bit worried having an unknown quantity join the group, but I have been greatly surprised by what she has added!  Beth, it has been a pleasure to begin to get to know you and your heart for the “least of these”.

Amanda is someone I became aware of through Dayspring, where we both attended church growing up.  Amanda (perhaps unknowingly) is actually one of the original inspirations of the whole 25 Days for Peace project.   She has participated in a few “create something everyday” challenges and I found myself checking them out when she would post them on Facebook.  She has since moved on to schooling and internships, but when I reached out to her about this project, she responded right away and was a great provider of knowledge.   She has just finished a LONG internship in Columbus, where she was serving a church while raising support to stay.  It has been awesome to read her thoughts everyday, and she gives me hope that there are still christian leaders who will be serving when the current generation moves on!

Carla has an incredible story, and an incredibly caring heart.  Dayspring brought us together, and through the pain of a personal life experience she felt God’s call to start “Vulnerability Ministries”  where she coaches and encourages women in all life circumstances.  She has even written a book!   She has always encouraged me to continue writing, and at some point our “friendly church acquaintance” relationship became more of a friendship then I could have ever expected.  Through adventures in Nicaragua and my only attempt at acting, it has been an interesting ride, and I’m glad to say it isn’t over yet!

Last but certainly not least is my friend Sarah.  I have been blessed to have the opportunity to travel to Nicaragua to work with an organization called Nicaragua Resource Network, and Sarah is a volunteer leader of NRN.  Our paths cross as I occasionally get to edit videos for them, and I’ll never forget my meeting with her one late summer afternoon as we talked about a video for the fall.  This woman has heart.  To hear her tell stories of those she loves in Nicaragua, of the way her life has been changed by those she has met there…it was an incredibly powerful experience.  There were many moments in the stories that she couldn’t communicate with words what she was trying to say, but her presence and spirit told you more than words could communicate.  I’ll never forget that afternoon.

I have touched on each of these people not just because they are a part of this project of creating daily, but because they are all people who pursue peace.  When I invited them, they were already pursuing it.  Whether serving ministries, or churches, or NGO’s, they have all been pursuing peace, often at great personal cost.  I didn’t mention the tears I have shared with some of them, the exhaustion I have shared through overnight ministry, the times I have worshiped with them, or the fact that each of them has had to struggle to find financial support for what they are doing.

I wanted to acknowledge their pursuit of peace, and show you just the tiniest glimpse of what I see when I think about each of them.  How can one guy be so lucky to have met such fine people?

25 Days for Peace is a cooperative blogging experiment between myself and five other artists, designed to explore the facets of peace, particularly centered around this season intended to experience the peace of Christ. Visit this page to see the other contributions to this journey, and like it to join with us in exploring what peace means.

I usually try to write from a place of certainty.  The topics I chose are ones that I have fought long and hard to define in my mind.  This means that when I am writing I know what I want to say because I have worked hard to answer my own questions on the subject.

That will not be the case today, but not for lack of trying.

There has been one post that I have wanted to write for at least 2 years now, and I still don’t know how to write it.  This is the problem with waiting until I am sure before beginning a piece, it means if I am unsure, the piece will never be written.   So instead of continuing to ignore this topic…the one that brings tears to my eyes when I am reminded of it by a story on the radio, I’ll expose my thought process.   Perhaps someone can help me make sense of it all.

At some point in 2012 (maybe sooner) I felt drawn to the conflict in Syria.  The tragedy of it all made me want to take some action to change the outcome.  I would hear (and still do hear) stories of people fleeing their life long homes to escape the violence surrounding them.  I wanted to help in some way, but to this day I still can’t decide how.

Part of me wants to push society to act.  To forcefully stop the bloodshed.  Unfortunately this means that for a time, there will be more bloodshed.  When I am thinking this way, I think back to the non-interventionist policies (of the United States) that seemed to lead up to the escalation of World War II.  Many argue that if the United States had joined the fight in Europe more quickly, perhaps the war could have ended years sooner.  (This same theory holds true for our role in The Great War.)  As a teenager graduating from high school, I supported the invasion of Iraq because I saw it as intervening in a conflict that was going to get out of hand.  With the benefit of hindsight, I would revise my support for that particular conflict.  I believe that most of those who served in Iraq served honorably (including my brother, of whom I am proud) but that the conflict itself was not honorable.  There were probably still other ways open to the world to resolve the situation.  Hindsight is 20/20 as they say.

This same desire to act wishes that we had struck back against ISIS in the first week of it’s campaign in Iraq.  Perhaps if we had acted more quickly, the quagmire brewing in Syria could have been avoided.   Of course many people point to the Iraq conflict as the birth of ISIS, and there is probably truth in those charges.

The obvious alternative to intervention is non-intervention.  Non-intervention could have stopped the birth of ISIS by not starting a seemingly unnecessary war in Iraq in 2003.  We didn’t know at the time that this would be the result, but many people did predict it.  A non-interventionist strategy in Syria means that the United States would not be supporting any of the rebel, terrorist, state, or coalition actors in the region.  In a way we pursued this strategy until the past year.  The conflict in Syria pre-dates the official birth of ISIS by several years.  We did not begin serious interventions until this year.

Photo by Niclas Hammarstrom (I hate to post this without permission…but it is a powerful photo.)

So as people continue to be killed and pushed out of their homes, I don’t know what I want from the world.  Should the world step back and let the Syrians figure it out for themselves?  This seems reasonable, IF people that God loves and wants to reach were not being killed by our inaction.  I can’t feel comfortable leaving the innocent Syrians to their fate simply because it is the easiest action.  I can’t feel comfortable knowing that real souls are being lost to a fight they never asked for.

Can I argue for forceful intervention though?  I am not naive enough to think that there would not be many more deaths before the situation has a resolution.  What if my family members were sent to Syria?  What if they were killed there?  But then, what of the families of those who wish to flee but can not afford to be smuggled across a border into a safer country?  How much longer will there BE safer countries?

Where do we draw the line between right and wrong?  Do we as Christians have an obligation to help those who are oppressed and downtrodden?  The way I read the BIble seems to suggest that we do have a responsibility to help.  What then should I do?

Jesus gave his life for the whole world, but how could my life change the situation of the Syrians or the next nationality to be threatened?

Please someone, speak some wisdom into this situation.  I don’t know what to do.

What does peace ask of me now?

What does my desire to be a peacemaker mean in this context?

What is the role of the Church in these troubled times?

25 Days for Peace is a cooperative blogging experiment between myself and five other artists, designed to explore the facets of peace, particularly centered around this season intended to experience the peace of Christ. Visit this page to see the other contributions to this journey, and like it to join with us in exploring what peace means.  (Thanks for the great description Amanda!)