Living in hell because Jesus asked him to

So I'm at this conference over new years called the World Missions Summit. Piles of people from around the world all in one place. You know, a conference. Well, one of the keynote speakers was a surprise for us. His turn comes around and he's introduced and I'd never heard of him. It's sad too because I read the news a lot and the people we hear about all the time should actually be listening to and deferring to guys like this. And I don't even remember his name. He'd probably like it that way too.

He's a pastor in Baghdad.

Under Saddam he led a Christian church in his house and hoped to stay under the radar of the secret police. He didn't. They arrested him and with a death sentence on his life he was thrown into a 7x8 foot isolation cell with six or eight other tribal leaders from around Iraq with similar sentences. They were there for months. No windows. Not enough food. No toilet. No light.

He didn't say much about it, lets just say he and his suite mates weren't treated so well.

While sitting in a room so dark he couldn't see his own hand he began meeting the men with him. After much prayer (and hearing them pray to Allah) he began talking to them about God and faith and Jesus and being where they were. Over the months the prayers of the other men shifted from 'Allahu Akbar!' to 'Jesus...' This guy wasn't trying to convert people, he was just doing his best to love the guys sitting with him in their collection of finely aged feces. And in the darkness and the stink Jesus became real to these guys.

The day before the US invaded Iraq, Saddam opened the doors to the prisons and everyone just walked out. No directions, no showers, no nothing. Just go. So they did. And he wouldn't go home for fear of forever scarring his children with the sight of him. Somehow he found a bath and some cleaner clothes and made his way to his house where his family didn't believe it was him standing at the door; they thought he was still in prison or dead.

And I'm sitting there listening to this humble nobody who still pastors a church in Baghdad, who refuses to leave because even if it means living in hell itself he will only go where Jesus has asked him to go. Sometimes I think Baghdad might just be hell. And he refuses to leave because he loves the people too much. One of the 20 year old women in his church, one of his leaders, so loved her people she chose not to marry so she could better serve other Iraqis. Then she was killed in an attack on one of the markets. But he loves the people too much. The sacrifice is worth it.

I can't help but wonder what might happen in places like Baghdad if the people who are in charge took the time to listen to guys like this who bear the literal scars of love and faithfulness, who aren't in it for the political power but for their love for the people.