Go Beyond

Mother and child at train station. | 2006 | Bangladesh

While visiting Bangladesh earlier this month, I picked up a copy of the April 7 issue of The Daily Star, an English language newspaper published in Dhaka. As I read through the paper, a brief article tucked away on page 9 caught my attention — “Woman crushed under train.” The incident happened in the district of Kushtia, an area I visited years ago. The unfortunate victim was “crushed under the wheels of a train at Sukhnagar slum.” The woman “was identified as Zarina Khatun, wife of Sonu Mia of the slum.” According to witnesses, “the incident took place when Zarina was trying to cross the railway track.” Sadly, and for whatever reason, Zarina never made it across the tracks. The article did not state her age, which caused me to wonder if she was an elderly woman with a faltering gait. Nor did the article say anything about whether Zarina had any children. She was simply identified as “wife of Sonu Mia of the slum.”

The words “of the slum” caused me to pause, perhaps because I have walked through so many slum areas in South Asia. The slums in Bangladesh are difficult and dirty places where people like Sonu Mia barely eke out a living and reside in piecemeal shanties. The people who live in these slums can never relax. Instead, they live under the constant pressure of where their next meal will come from. In addition to lacking food, those who live in the slums lack access to clean water, adequate sanitation, and basic health care. They have little protection from weather extremes and are often the first to die when flood waters rise or temperatures plunge. Trying to raise children in slum environments compounds the challenges of day to day survival. But, somehow, people like Sonu Mia manage to do what seems impossible. They learn to adapt and to survive.

On April 6 at 10:20 AM, life in the slum ended for Zarina Khatun as she tried to cross the railway tracks near Kushtia Court station. The police recovered her body “and sent it to Kushtia general hospital for autopsy.” This should be an open and shut case for the medical examiner. But, there is something that the autopsy will not reveal about the wife of Sonu Mia of the slum. However precise the instruments used by the medical examiner, the autopsy will not reveal the condition of Zarina’s soul. Nor will the autopsy reveal the bruises on her heart inflicted by blow after blow of daily hardships in the slums. Life is extremely hard for many people. Reflecting on Zarina’s life and death has reminded me that each of us have the opportunity to leave either the marks of hurt or healing in the lives of others, the kinds of things that an autopsy can never reveal. May we always be sensitive to the least of these who are struggling to survive from day to day and offer them the healing and refreshing balm of our love and kindness.

Reflections on Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Last Wednesday, my companions and I ventured to Cox’s Bazar, the longest sea beach in the world. Cox’s Bazar is located about one-hundred miles south of Chittagong on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal. This narrow stretch of Bangladesh was named after Captain James Cox of the East India Company who was in charge of a naval base here in the late 18th century. I previously had visited this area en route to Teknaf, a city on the southern tip of Bangladesh at the mouth of the Naf River. Teknaf is the launching point for reaching St. Martin’s island.

Praying at Cox's Bazar

One of our most meaningful experiences was walking slowly along the beach and stopping occasionally to look toward the western horizon. Under that canopy are unengaged islands that ring the coast of Bangladesh. We took some time to read the Scripture and to pray onsite with insight. As we looked toward the west, we read God’s promise to give Joshua the land “toward the going down of the sun” (Joshua 1:3) and interceded on behalf of the islanders. And, as we watched the waves lap onto the shore we prayed that our initiatives to reach the people of these islands would hasten the day when “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9).

While in Cox’s Bazar we also met with our national partners to discuss our next steps in engaging the people of the islands. We are privileged to work with nationals I have known for a dozen years and who have a passion for sharing the gospel with their own people. These men are committed to reaching their homeland from shore to shore and border to border. God is doing some great things in Bangladesh because of Bengali men and women who are willing to endure persecution and even death for the sake of the gospel. Among the martyrs in heaven will be many Bengali believers who paid the ultimate price for being followers of Christ in a place that is hostile to the gospel. These are not individuals who took the lives of others in an attempt to spread their faith. That would be contrary to the teaching and example of Jesus. Instead, these are individuals who were tortured and killed because they were followers of Christ. I visited the grave of one of these martyrs in August of last year.

Standing on the beach at Cox’s Bazar reminded me once again that the kingdom of God always advances at our inconvenience. And, standing on the beach also reminded me that we must be willing to lose sight of the shore in order to take the light of the gospel to those who live toward the setting sun. This is the ongoing story of the book of Acts — going beyond comfort and convenience to tell the story of God’s love to those who have never heard it. I am thankful for those who brought the gospel to where I live — for the generations of individuals who carried the message toward the setting sun. We must do no less for those who live beyond our shores. May we always be willing to press on toward the setting sun.

Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

In 1993, Greg Mortensen set out to climb K2, the world’s second tallest mountain. K2 is located in the Karakoram range that spans the northern borders of Pakistan, India, and China. However, Mortensen’s participation in the rescue of another climber prevented him from making his summit bid. On his descent, Mortensen became disoriented and took a wrong turn and ended up in Korphe, a village of subsistence farmers located in northeastern Pakistan. Exhausted and ill, the residents of this mountain village nursed Mortensen back to health. Moretnsen promised to repay their kindness by returning to build a school in their village. He made good on that promise and has since helped to build schools in some of the most remote and rugged locations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. You can read more about Mortensen’s remarkable story in his best-selling books, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations … One School at a Time, and the sequel, Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mortensen founded the Central Asia Institute, a non-government organization dedicated to building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. What I love best about the CAI is that they are committed to building schools in “last places first” — in villages located in areas that present enormous logistical challenges. To date, Mortensen has had a hand in establishing or supporting more than 170 schools which provide an education to more than 64,000 children, including 54,000 girls. All of this started with a single promise he made when he took a wrong turn coming down a mountain! I have great admiration for the work of Greg Mortensen and great respect for his “last places first” philosophy.

In recent years, missiologists have called Christ-followers to turn their attention to “last places first” — to the unreached and unengaged people groups that live in what has become known as the 10/40 Window. This rectangular-shaped geographical  area is located between 10 and 40 degrees latitude north of the equator and stretches from North Africa all the way to the Pacific Rim. The people groups that live in this region of the world have the little or no access to the gospel. Many are kept in darkness by hostile cultures and governments. These people groups live in what are “last places” for the kingdom of God.

Bangladesh is in the heart of the 10/40 Window. I first visited this over-crowded nation in 1999 and have returned to visit almost annually. In 2004, a national Christian leader here told me of his concern for the unengaged islands in the Bay of Bengal. So, I made plans to visit one of those islands the following year. When I arrived, an island resident told me that no Westerner had visited their island since 1991. This man of peace arranged for me to speak to several hundred of the island’s Muslim inhabitants about why I had come. I was given complete freedom to share the story of Jesus. The following year I led a team to visit another island in the Bay of Bengal. However, our Bibles were confiscated and we were assigned a police escort throughout our stay.

Last night, my companions and I arrived at Cox’s Bazar after a fourteen-hour drive from Dhaka. Cox’s Bazar is the longest natural sea beach in the world. It borders the Bay of Bengal to the east and provides a vista of the far western horizon. In between horizons are small pockets of people who inhabit the islands in the Bay of Bengal. These are some of the “last places” on earth that are still waiting to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time. Kingsland’s missions ministry currently supports two Bengali nationals who have moved to one of the islands to share the story of Jesus. Over the next day we are meeting with our national partner to strategize on how we can take the gospel to more islands. Our focus in Bangladesh, and other places where we are involved, is to go to the “last places first.” Please pray that those who live in last places will soon have their first opportunity to hear the story of Jesus.