Street Called Straight

Our knowledge of world and national events is controlled by the media. As the media move from one tragedy to the next, we move with them. Media tire of one tragedy and seem to welcome a new one because ratings determine the cost of advertising. Media need sponsors to pay their bills, and old news does not attract viewers/listeners/readers. It is all about money

One such tragedy that has not been in our attention for months is the Syrian crisis. What began as part of the Arab Spring uprising in March 2011 escalated into civil war resulting in over a half million people being killed—160,000 of those civilians.

There are, of course, the tragedies of Yemen and Haiti that have also taken the back seat of media coverage since the Afghanistan crisis, but my attention and prayers today are focused on a whole generation of Syrian children who have not been in school during this 10-year war in Syria.

Cheryl and I were in Damascus visiting with some of our personnel before the outbreak of the war. As we traveled around the city, we were amazed at the number of young people in the country of 22 million people. Everywhere we went children were about. Today those children are afraid to come out of their homes—if they even have a house to call home!

We walked the “Street Called Straight.” Today it is called “Souq Midhat Pasha.” We had to buy something from one of the small shops scattered along this historic street just because the Apostle Paul had walked along that road. This two-thousand-year-old road was a Greek and later a Roman road that runs east to west through Damascus for over one mile.

People from all over the world have walked down the “Street Called Straight” for centuries with no fear from warring factions, but today that is not true. Half the population of Syria has been internally displaced. Another 6-7 million Syrians have fled the country. Syrians who remain in the country are pessimistic about the future of their country.

Would you join me in praying for cessation of the war in Syria?