Testimony from Algeria

Tonight was Bible study, which we have on every Thursday night. It's normally a bunch of college students meeting the youth pastor and discussing the ususal topics, love life, God and which drummer/singer/sports player is the best. Pretty much the same thing that happens in bible study groups across the nation. Today got to be a bit different though, we had two missionaries and a bunch of elders from the church show up. Seems some of the elders had been doing short-term missionary work last year and met two ex-Islamic Christians doing some pretty amazing things in the missionary field. They happened to be coming to our area and were invited to speak. Algeria is a ex-French colony that is heavily Islamic, with some catholic holdouts. Both shared about their testimony and answered some questions of Western world view Vs. Islamic world view. It was a pretty amazing session.

I won't say too much about the testimonies as those stories belong to the men who lived them and them alone. Both had met God in France (amazing given how much under fire Christianity is there right now). Both also had many initial doubts about God but had come to see how the God of Christians makes more sense then the God of Islam. Both work in Africa, where Christian power is weakest, but growing quickly. (second only to the Christian movement in Indian Dahlits) Both have also specialized a technique of befriending Muslims and then asking questions about their faith in order to make them asks questions. This technique is actually meeting with a lot of success in France, and is helping make headway in Africa as well.

Some highlights:

*One of the missionaries is broadcasting TV signals across North Africa teaching the Gospel. While this had laid an excellent groundwork for making people educated and interested in the word, more people are needed on the ground to help bring the word personally into villages/cities and answer questions of the people.

*Tip for helping covert Native(not American) Muslims: Be generous. Islamic world view holds that we are greedy and self-interested, defying this stereotype is a good first step.

*Don't ever grab someone a try to convert them right of the bat. This is foolish as it means you are only interested in their salvation. Why just save someone when you make a God friend too?

*Native Muslims often hold a family view on decisions, very few decisions being made by the individual(kind like the old Scot clans). This makes an individual decision to accept Christ so dangerous, religion being the most important decision, most family will believe they should have the final word on this subject.

Some Q&A from last night, bear in mind these are ex-native Muslims, not ones born in America:

Q: Does the Islamic world-view generally hold that America is an atheist or Christian nation?
A: Islamic world view is that there isn't much of a difference. The term 'people of the book' (middle ages term for Christians and Jews) has faded and most Muslims simply need to know your not Islamic, that's enough.

Q: What does the Koran say about non-believers?
A: Not very complimentary, since non-believers are viewed as a danger, the Koran advocates domination or violence in more than one passage.

Q: In General is the Native Muslims or American ones more hostile to the idea of Christianity?
A: American Muslims tend to stick much more strictly and religiously to their Islamic roots. Many American Muslims are far more faithful to the Islam faith than in the native lands.
(This corresponds to my experience living in an immigrant neighborhood. Recent immigrants often hold fiercely to their native beliefs out of fear of losing their roots. Somewhat similar to members of my family researching and taking so much pride in our McDuff roots. In the early 1900s when we left, we probably did'nt concern ourselves with the families' scottish history half as much as we do now.)

Kind of tough information to swallow. The big point being driven hoem I think was that while CHristianity has more or less repented of the violent times of the crusades to come abck to the generally more peacful early Christian roots, Islam still has not. Much of the world view is strikingly similar to that of the Crusaders of the 12th century, but still existing in this century. While obviously most Muslims are not gonna resort to violence, it does show why there can be so much hostility to our missionaries in Native muslim lands. I've made it a note to obtain a english copy of the Koran, in order to see for myself what kind of basis Islam is using for it's opinions and facts.

Remeberance...a salute to Jack Hall

The Memorial for my Grandfather was today. He was a pretty big part of local history, so a lot of people showed up. It's been a month since he passed away in his home and it's kind of odd that I know more about his life now that he has passed on then when he was living. He was a big part of Fresno's early media history, having been a founding meber of KMJ radio and a founding member of channel 24(the first local channel in the valley). He was espcially a big part of the theatre, having been a producer for years. He was even helping produce in his retirment, as part of the New Wrinkles annual show. Most of Fresno's early big movers were there at the memorial service, from the theatre to radio hosts, talking about thier memories of him. My favorite stories were those from his radio days....he once did most of the voice work for Fresno's radio back in the 40s. I was aware of some of his history, but had'nt been aware of the personal stories. My grandfather wass'nt one much to talk about his past, he served in military for years, but most people did'nt know he had at all.

The important thing was that so many people were there. In the past few months before his end, Grandfather Hall had worried about his legacy and wether he would be remebered. It would have made him proud to see so many remeber him. I suppose that is the greatest difference between me and him. His greatest fear was dying forgotten by history and he tried very hard to stay remebered. He got what he wanted, I suppose, but it made me think about how I want to die. I honestly don't care for history, only a handful of people will be remembered beyond a century anyway. My greatest fear I think would be dying without family. It's kinda selfish, but I would like to think I could die leaving something living behind, something to carry on my legacy. Someone to carry the sotries or "all the crazy things Grandpa/Dad/Husband did". That not too different from what Grandfather or anyone else wants, I just want it to be someone close that does the remebering.

Kennoch get-together

Had the anual mandetory guild meeting today :). It was a lot of fun and we got a lot done. We got together in the morning and discussed new guidlines and coustming items. (I did'nt mention my now-orange Liene' , hope to fix it later.) The guidlnes are pretty much an officalizing of the guidlines I've been verbally given so far. My complete loadout for full members(Galloglaich):

1 Liene (big Irish tunic with pockets built into sleeves)
1 Trews (Scottish pants, really tight)
1 Helmet (Ordered it)
1 Sword (I need another cheap one for live steel combat)
1 Inoar (Irish jacket, mine needs changing)
1 Bonnet (Scottish hat, really good for catching ladies' eyes Methinks:)
1 Skien (21-inch knife that all irish-scottish men wore.)

Some quick tailoring should get me up to speed, altough I really ticked about having to buy the helmet, it was expensive! On the plus side though, Thurmod, whom I am ghillied to(squired), has agreed to make a chainmallie shirt for me. Being assigned to one of the full members seems a odd, at least it's too one of the core members, Thurmod pretty much knows the working of the guild inside and out and he's a fellow Galloglaich to boot. Most of the meeting was taken up by history tests (rewarded by guild leader throwing candy at your head) and role-play practice. I found I have a definite skill in boasting, but suck at pickup lines Socializing with fellow enthusits was well worth, altough as usual I had to leave once everyone started getting drunk. Being sober while everyone else is stone drunk is probably the most boring thing I can imagine, so I tend to leave parties a little early.

On other notes, one member of the guild will be undergoing corrective surgery in a while, sounds pretty serious. My prayers go out to them as it's gotta be scary as hell.

Start of a journey....well maybe not.

I'm not entirly certain what's stranger...starting a Blog, or doing so publicly. It's not normal my method to show off, But we'll see how things go. I suppose I should say something about myself and why I feel it nesscary to record me experiences.

I'm a 22 year old christian male in California, I enjoy medival history and western martial arts. I'm part of an Irish Renfaire Guild, the Kennochs (http://www.stkennochs.org) as a Galloglas, or heavy armor fighter. I'm also undergoing Discipleship training in my church, in order to better serve God. I'm a tech support technician and a leathercrafter, so I guess I keep realitvly busy.

Today should be realtivly slow. I'm mostly gearing up for the renfaire season, It'll be my first full year with the guild so a lot of effort is being put towards equipment. My Galloglas leader says that we can only wear clamshell gauntlets, which are pretty expensive, so I'll have to save up for them. (I'm tired of bruised fingers from incorrectly blocking blows.) My Spgian (big knife) and tartan cloth (Galloglaich are scottish by birth) should arrive soon, the products of my tax refund.


Sunday was an lesson for me> As usual, I headed to fighter practice after Church. As usual I had my buttocks handed to me by almost every member of the guild. I hate being the newest member sometimes. The veterans tell me it's a case of not watning victory badly enough, which is probably true, since I've never really cared about losing in a game. Tim, our leader, pulled me aside and asked what was I fighting for. He told me I should be fighting for my personal glory and that it was in pursuit of personal glory taht the greatest fighters were made. I could see how Tim thought this, he is after all, the modern day equivlent of Achilles himself. "personal glory" isn't something I can be comfortable with. My upbringing has always taught me that personal glory was menaingless and if was the honor of the family and the pride of the family roots that mattered. My faith likewise tells me that glory is for God and that personal glory is as fleeting as the mortal life that spurs it onward. Motivation in my combat is lacking, but how do I find it? Can one glory God in competetion? How does one find the motivation to fight so hard? I am studing in order to find out jsut what it was that spurred so many idealistic heroes in history to making great sacrifices. The crusaders (the pious ones, anyway) have provided some clues, as some of them sacrificed everything in the aim of an igonimble end in the Holy Land. I'll pray on it too, of course. It's intresting how some of the smallest things in life can lead to such big questions.