Go Beyond

Among Syrian Refugees in Amman, Jordan

After only a few hours of sleep, the morning light burst through the windows of our rooms with a blinding intensity. But, two days of travel and an early morning arrival at our boarding house were not enough to keep us in bed. Our students were eager to start our first day of ministry to Syrian refugees living in Amman, Jordan. We understand that we only have a few precious days to visit and encourage families who have suffered unimaginable losses and we did not want to waste a single minute.

Our first order of business after breakfast and our morning devotional was to assemble the humanitarian aid packages that we will personally deliver over the next few days. These relief packages are a part of a larger strategy that goes beyond meeting physical needs. Traumatic and life-altering events like the civil war in Syria have opened windows of opportunity and an openness to the gospel among Syrian refugees, thereby allowing us to meet spiritual needs as well.

Among the nationals who are working alongside our team are several refugees who have come to faith in Christ as a result of previous initiatives to assist them in their time of need. I was delighted to see one Syrian man whose family I visited on a previous trip to Jordan. He is now a believer and heavily involved in reaching out to his own people. The kindness expressed to him by Christ-followers who visited his home opened his heart to the truth of the gospel. And now he is expressing that same kindness to others and sharing the story of how Jesus reached him.

We coached all of our teams to take the time to listen to the stories told by the people we have come to help. Every individual and every family has a story to tell — stories of loss, near-death experiences, fleeing for safety, watching friends and family members killed, and what it means to live with uncertainty. One woman told me that although their home in Syria was completely destroyed by Assad’s forces, she and her husband are prepared to go back and live in a tent the moment it is safe to do so. “If we do not return one day,” she said, “then who will rebuild our nation?”

Every refugee we visited echoed the same sentiment. “I am a stranger here,” said one man. He and his family of eight will stay until it is safe to return home, even though their home has been destroyed. They are prepared to rebuild their lives, their home, and the country they still love. After praying with another family the man looked at me and said he remembered me. I had visited him on a previous trip soon after he and his family had come to Jordan. “I thought you looked familiar but then knew it was you when you started to pray.” His words touched my heart. Regardless of whether people remember our names, how wonderful to be remembered because we prayed.

Our work has just started. Our seven teams visited Syrian families living all around Amman. I reminded our students this morning that, in addition to carrying their relief packages, they needed to carry “a little balm and a little honey” (Gen. 43:11) with them. There should always be a healing and soothing quality about our presence, like balm, and a refreshing and encouraging quality as well, like honey. I am proud of our students for not only meeting physical needs today, but addressing spiritual and emotional needs as well. Life for Syrian refugees is hard. We pray that God will continue to use us to bless and encourage these hurting families.

En route to Amman via Istanbul

In March 2011, a group of demonstrators took to the streets of Deraa in Syria. These peaceful demonstrators demanded the release of fourteen school children who had been arrested for expressing sympathy with Arab Spring protestors in Tunisia and Egypt. President Assad’s security forces opened fire on the demonstrators and killed four people. That incident became the spark that ignited a civil war in Syria that has resulted in thousands of deaths and more than a million people displaced from their homes.

Hospital for Syrian refugees | 17 April 13 | Zaatari Refugee Camp | Northern Jordan

In the years since the firestorm was ignited in Deraa, hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled to Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan in search of safety. All of these individuals have suffered some kind of loss — everything from property to the deaths of family and neighbors. I have personally visited many Syrian refugee families in Jordan over the past couple of years to pray with them and to provide much-needed humanitarian relief. Many have expressed deep interest in knowing what would motivate a Christ-follower to help Muslim families in distress.

Our team at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

Today, I am leading a group of our high school graduates to Jordan to reach out to Syrian refugees. These students will have the remarkable opportunity to engage in ministry to people they’ve only heard about on the evening news. By moving in the direction of people in need, our students will gain deeper insight into current events in the Middle East. They will meet Syrian parents who want nothing more than to provide for the needs of their families and kids who long for a safe place to live and an opportunity for a brighter future.

While in Jordan, I will take our students to Mount Nebo, the mountain east of the Jordan River from which Moses viewed the Promised Land. On the night before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached a message entitled “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” in which he used Moses’ experience on Mount Nebo as a figure for his own life. That night he spoke these prophetic words:

We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life — longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Ten hours later, Martin Luther King, Jr. was dead. But his legacy lives on and has changed our world forever.

King said something else in that speech that is at the heart of why we are taking our students to Jordan and sending hundreds of other Kingsland students to serve around the world this month. He challenged his listeners to “develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness” — like that demonstrated by the Good Samaritan. “The Levite asked, ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But the Good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’ That’s the question before you tonight.”

As we continue to equip the generations at Kingsland to love God and love people, we want for our students to “develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness” by living incarnationally — being the hands and feet of Jesus among those in need and in pain. That is why we are bound for Jordan. Thanks for your prayers for my team and for the more than 400 other Kingsland students and adults who will serve around the world this month.