Dear friends,

The situation in Burma now is worse than we’ve ever seen it, and there is now the heaviest fighting since World War II. The Burma military comes with a speed and a force that I’ve never seen before. At the same time, there is a new unity in Burma, against the dictatorship, that cuts across all social, economic, racial, tribal, ideological, and religious lines. This unity is based on people from all over Burma banding together to stand against the oppressive dictatorship. This gives us all hope.

Yet, in the midst of this, we want more than just unity against an evil system of governance and against human rights abuses (murder, rape, burnings, killings, and displacement), we want a unity for something: otherwise – even if the dictators fall and there is some form of democracy – there will be no love and without love, democracy is nothing more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner. And even with love, if it’s just human love, when under enough pressure, it will break. That is why God sent Jesus: so that even when we break, he doesn’t, and he helps us. His love is unbreakable. When we turn to him and call on his name and obey him and work with him, he enables us to love even when it seems like there is no love. This is the only hope for any new change in Burma. This is our prayer.

As you read the stories here, you will read a lot about sorrow and loss. I learned one thing in seminary, the very first day, from my beloved professor, Chuck Kraft: you can live well with sorrow; you can’t live well with sin. Jesus comes to take our sins away. But sorrow we will have, because that is about love. And one of the roles of believers, together, is to share each other’s sorrows. A sorrow shared is divided; a joy shared is multiplied. That is how we grow closer together and love each other through everything. I thank God for what the Karen people of Burma call the undiscovered land, the life beyond this one. We all will discover it one day because of the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Please join us in prayer for a change of heart for the dictators and the Burma Army, for a new government founded in love and forgiveness, and for reconciliation and the building of a new Burma.

God bless you,

Dave, family and FBR