From the Stires

Some friends of our from Lakeside Bible Church are missionaries in Albania. Their blog is "Stire Testimonial" on my page links. I am not sure if it is password blocked or if you have to register to look at it. I can't remember. Just in case, I copied what she posted about their July 4th experience over there. It just could not have been summarized in a way that would give it justice as to what she is saying. We need to pray for our great nation; the one under God!

It is a whole different experience to spend this holiday in a foreign land. I sure appreciate my American heritage a whole lot more now that I have lived overseas. I don't think that I truly comprehended the impact that a nation founded on Christian principles would have on it's society. Of course, we are far afield from that Biblical foundation now, but the vestiges still remain. There is a common courtesy among people in manners and little pleasantries in conversation (please, thank you, excuse me and such) that are almost absent in the Albanian culture. In America we enjoy the benefits of a nation that believed that rules and laws are for the good of the people, while in Albania rules and laws are regarded at restrictive and don't really have to be obeyed if it is inconvenient (you see this the most in the driving - who needs to stop at a red light?). I am having to train my kids not to throw their trash on the ground even when everyone else does it, or to say please and thank you and not to cut in line because they don't learn it from the culture around them. I know that Americans are just as depraved as the people of Albania, but the blatant display of it is shocking here, because there is not the moral underpinning and human courtesies that Americans have learned to live with from birth. I guess the reason that I am sharing these observations is so that you can see these things from a different perspective and begin to appreciate them in a new way. Thank God for the person who lets you in line in the grocery store when you have only 2 items and she has a whole cart load. Thank God for general order in the post office or bank where people stand in line (albeit a long one) and don't walk right in front of you because they want to. Thank God for lines on the road and people driving in them, on the right side of the road. Thank God for police officers, judges, car mechanics, doctors and other people who do not expect a bribe in order to give you good service. These things are not be taken for granted or expected because we are human beings. They are a blessing from God because we live in a land that has enjoyed His grace due to our forefather's commitment to Biblical foundations. This should also cause us to pray more fervently for our nation. Thomas Jefferson, in 1871, was right when he said, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever." Our country is quickly degenerating into a nation that is against all things God ordained (marriage, authority, family, prayer...) and this should cause us to pray diligently for the repentence of our nation. Let us do as Abraham Lincoln called us to and "humble ourselves before the offended Power to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness..." .We praise God for our nation and for the blessings that are ours as American citizens. However, we are exceedingly honored to be able live and work and become a part of the country of Albania. Even though Albania may not have had the privilege of being founded on the Bible, they have the same opportunity to honor God as a people. My prayers for Albania are more hopeful, in some sense, than those for America. Albania has not hardened it's heart to the gospel or to spiritual things. The heart of America has been captivated by the blessings of God and deadened to the Giver of those good things. Albania has not experienced those good things and still has the opportunity to become a godly nation. We pray for the people of Albania to be gripped by their need of a Savior and to ignite their nation and those around them with a passion for God. We are in a key place, location wise, for the end times. Who knows what God has planned for this little country? Pray with us for the salvation of these people.