Dying Out Loud by Shawn Smucker

Author:Shawn Smucker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Dying Out Loud
ISBN: 9781937830960
Publisher: Influence Resources
Published: 2013-07-27T00:00:00+00:00

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There were several instances during that trip where we went through controlled checkpoints. We’d pull up to a little guard station and there’d be a wooden arm blocking the road. Young men with guns would come out and surround the truck, usually searching it for weapons or contraband.

But once they saw Stanley, they smiled. Sometimes they’d get a soccer ball out and he’d play with them. Other times they let him hold their weapons or they’d give him a tour of their tanks. At one checkpoint we took a picture of Stanley with three of the guards. They were young men, maybe twenty, wearing green fatigues, black boots, and kind smiles. They all had short, black hair and a few days of stubble on their chins. One of them put his arm around Stanley, who grinned from ear to ear under the wide brim of his baseball cap.

Shortly after we left those checkpoints, they were attacked by terrorists and every soldier was killed. Those young men with the smiling faces and kind eyes? Gone. God had His hand of protection over us, but it was heart-breaking because even though we were protected, the people behind us were attacked and killed. All along, the love of the Turks surrounded us. They went in front of us and protected us when it was needed. It was an amazing thing to experience.

I often wonder about the way we treat foreigners when we run into them in America. Do we love them? Would we drive our truck ahead of them to absorb a land mine? Or do we do all that we can to get them out of our hair as quickly as possible?

We learned a lot about the Turkish culture during those first few years: the warmth in their hearts for visitors, their overwhelming hospitality, and their love of laughter. But we were also keenly aware of the darkness of their religion and their need for Christ. As our first two or three years in Turkey passed, we realized it would take much more to reach them. But we weren’t sure what that was.

Meanwhile, God used those first few years to begin leading us to a new area of the country that we should focus on: a place called the Dark Canyon.

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