“Work, work, from morning until late at night. In fact, I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer.”
FROM THE DESK OF: the Director of Communications
There are tragedies around the world everyday but sometimes - most times - we are able to blissfully ignore it. This week was not one of those times. There have simply been too many overt examples of our world breaking in front of our very eyes. Quite literally the earth crumbled beneath our feet in Nepal where over 4000 people lost their lives in a massive earthquake. And as we watched Baltimore burned to the ground on national TV, we are left to wonder which started first, police corruption or desperate violence?
I find myself caught in a unique tension as I pray this week: "Jesus, come back quickly. End all this stupid violence and make everything right like you promised you would." But on the other hand, "Jesus, not yet. Turkey, Saudi Arabia, China, Mongolia, Iraq, Morocco... they don't know yet. Be gracious and don't come just yet. Wait. Send more missionaries, send more church planters. We're not ready, there's still so much to be done..."
For the Win[dow],
Bubby Bryan, DOC
VERSE OF THE WEEK: Romans 8:22-23
"For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."
COUNTRY OF THE WEEK: Nepal
In 1951, the Nepali monarch ended the century-old system of rule by hereditary premiers and instituted a cabinet system that brought political parties into the government. That arrangement lasted until 1960, when political parties were again banned, but was reinstated in 1990 with the establishment of a multiparty democracy within the framework of a constitutional monarchy. An insurgency led by Maoists broke out in 1996. The ensuing 10-year civil war between Maoist and government forces witnessed the dissolution of the cabinet and parliament and the re-assumption of absolute power by the king in 2002. Several weeks of mass protests in April 2006 were followed by several months of peace negotiations between the Maoists and government officials, and culminated in a late 2006 peace accord and the 2007 promulgation of an interim constitution. Following a nationwide Constituent Assembly (CA) election in 2008, the newly formed CA declared Nepal a federal democratic republic, abolished the monarchy, and elected the country's first president. Between 2008 and 2011 there were four different coalition governments, led twice by the United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, which received a plurality of votes in the 2008 CA election, and twice by the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist-Leninist (UML). After the CA failed to draft a constitution by the May 2012 deadline set by the Supreme Court, then-Prime Minister Baburam BHATTARAI dissolved the CA. Months of negotiations ensued until March 2013 when the major political parties agreed to create an interim government headed by then-Chief Justice Khil Raj REGMI with a mandate to hold elections for a new CA. Elections were held in November 2013, in which and the Nepali Congress won the largest share of the seats in the CA and in February 2014 formed a coalition government with the second place UML and with Nepali Congress President Sushil KOIRALA as prime minister. The new government failed to meet its January 2015 deadline for a new constitution primarily due to continuing disagreement over federal restructuring. (CIA World Factbook)
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- Pray for the new Nepali government to lead wisely and justly as they battle the country’s immense economic problems.
- Pray for leadership-training structures to be established that would train godly leaders for the growing Nepali Church.
- Pray for Nepalis abroad to encounter the gospel and to embrace it.
- Pray for the ongoing search and rescue efforts after the earthquake.
- Pray for the Uttermost workers in the field.
- Pray for the US office.