Reversal

God is our refuge and strength, and we can hide in Him, even when He calls us out of our comfort zones. He does not call us necessarily to a safe course, and we can know when we face trouble in this life, that He goes with us. 2nd Timothy chapter 2 says:
8 Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel,
9 for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained.
10 Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Paul did not life a "safe" life - but he was so devoted to serving the Lord who had saved Him that he was willing to completely lay down his life for the sake of the gospel. We can go to the Lord and His Word for motivation to live our lives in such a way that we demonstrate our love for Christ. Because of His great love, He gives us a capacity to love Him and love others, and that is our motivational factor in order to do the work to which He has called us.  That may involve risk and difficulty along the way, but He is with us. 

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Because Christ has changed our lives, because we are born again, out of our gratefulness to Him for saving us and the motivation of our love for Him, we go forward to do His will. In 2nd Corinthians 6, we can read:
4 But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses,
5 in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings;
6 by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love,
7 by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
8 by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true;
9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed;
10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

We are certainly mindful of unrest that is occurring in the African nation of Sudan.  A number of years ago, South Sudan broke away from that nation, but conditions there have deteriorated, as well.  Teresa Janzen was on The Meeting House a few weeks ago to discuss the missions work that she has been involved in there. 

Faithwire has published a story about a pastor in South Sudan who has had a very adventurous journey.  He's 66 years old now, but Bernard Suwa thought about ending it all when he was much younger.  The article notes:

He spent his early years in southern Sudan, but became a refugee of the Sudanese Civil War in 1964.

“The first Sudanese Civil War reached our village, so I fled to Uganda with my sister’s family,” he told Premiere. “We began our 22-mile journey on foot, but because the main road was infested with soldiers, we had to access the border another way.”

His father died of an asthma attack when Suwa was 12 years old. Later, his mother died a brutal death at the hands of soldiers. The article relates: "Suwa said the pain and trauma of it all weighed on him, causing depression, sadness, confusion, and other emotions to rage."  He ended up at a boarding school, but he was hopeless and ready to take his life.  Faithwire quoted from a Premier Christianity story:

“One Sunday, when I was wondering how to take my life, I heard a song coming from the nearby chapel,” he said. “When I heard ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’, I felt that I was being called, so I left my tree, walked in, and sang with the rest of the students.”

Rather than ending it all, Suwa said this was the start of his new life. He eventually got married, started a family, and moved to Australia.

He came back to Sudan in 2005 and founded a church.  Now 66 years old, he is now in South Sudan, about which the Faithwire article states:

Suwa serves in South Sudan, a nation formed in 2011. It’s a country that has faced multiple crises over the years, according to watchdog Open Doors.

“South Sudan has endured crisis after crisis since 2013. Many had hoped that tolerance, democracy and human rights would flourish in the majority Christian nation,” Yonas Dembele, a World Watch Research analyst, said in a statement. “However, the clash between the two main ethnic groups (represented by the president and the vice president) led to a civil war that resulted in hatred, death and destruction.”

Suwa's story illustrates the actions of a man of God who has determined that he will face difficult and even dangerous challenges for the sake of the Lord whom He loves.  He illustrates how all of us are called to lay down our lives - coming out of what is comfortable in order to take the gospel to people who need to hear it.  

This is a man who is so grateful for what Christ has done in His life that He has devoted His life to preaching the gospel, with great risk.  We have to make sure that we are not "playing it safe," in our Christian life, but willing to speak hard truth and depend on God no matter what.  Even in America, we are seeing that it is tough in some circumstances to be a Christian - there is hostility, there is conflict, there is ostracization and marginalization.  But, through it all, we have a Savior who goes with us and bring us His sufficiency even in the face of opposition.