Compelled By Reality

Throw off EVERYTHING!

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Evangelism

Today I woke up, turned off the alarm clock and went back to bed. I then woke up again and took a shower and rushed off to a meeting that I ended up being 5-10 minutes late. I then went to Bruegger’s Bagels, sitting in the quiet air-conditioned environment and read the Bible and checked my email among other things before rushing off to my next meeting.

I can’t imagine what Son Jong Nam’s day has been like so far. Did he have a quiet morning with much time for prayer? Has he eaten today, or even this week? Was he awoken by guards coming to torture him yet again?

We have so much freedom here in the comfort and safety of our homes and free society. Do we use our freedom wisely? Are we trying to make the most of every minute we have each day or is it being wasted?

We need a lot more Son Jong Nams in this country. We need more people who are steadfast in their devotion to God and are unafraid to love other people with their actions. Not in the passive sense that our nation has gripped so tightly too, you living your faith, me living mine, and we go our seperate ways. But standing up for righteousness in the face of persecution. Declaring the love of God and the return of the King to the earth. Living out a fasted lifestyle with our end goal being with our creator. Are we wasting our minutes each day or are we making the most of them? And where are our priorities taking us?

Son Jong Nam defected from North Korea to China in 1998, where he became a Christian after meeting a South Korean missionary. In 2001 the Chinese deported him back to North Korea because of his evangelistic work. He was imprisoned and tortured for 3 years, paroled in 2004, but then re-arrested in January 2006. He has been sentenced to public execution as an example to the North Korean people.

If you are like me and this grips your heart, there are a few ways you can help:

1. Pray
2. Write an email to the Permanent Representative DPRK U.N. Office
3. Write an email to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
4. Inform your friends to do the same
5. Write an encouraging letter to Son Jong Nam
6. Don’t waste your life here with the freedoms you have. Live for eternity, throw off everything that is hindering you from giving 100% to the purpose God has for you, and go for it.