Well, tomorrow is the big day for Iran-related blogging, and I don't know what to say. I've planned to write something, but as the day approaches I still suffer from writer's block on this issue.
Hossein Derakhshan writes in his weblog that if we want to help Iran, then we've got to know about it. I'm going to do that. Here's another link from Hossein Derakhshan's site to help. (Thanks to Rev. Mike's House of Homiletic Hash for the link)
Well, I just thought of something I can write about, a historical reflection:
I was a senior at Texas Tech University back when the Iran hostage crisis erupted. I was a active Christian and churchgoer at the time, even participating in Campus Crusade for Christ there. There was a lot of anger and resentment over the hostage crisis, among other things, and a lot of it was directed at President Carter as well as the Iranian theocracy.
I was returning from a job interview one night, and struck up a conversation with a man who was flying to Lubbock, and then catching a bus to meet his wife in some other town there in West Texas. As fate would have it, he was Iranian, just married to an American woman, and would soon be returning the family to Iran. I felt some pain inside for the decision his wife had made, but I stifled it, telling myself to listen to this man and not judge him or his wife -- they had their own reasons for their decisions and it was not for me to criticize or judge.
When we arrived in Lubbock, one of the Campus Crusade for Christ leaders, Ramiro, was to pick me up at the airport. We were very close to the time that my Iranian friend would have to be at the bus station, so close in fact, that if he had to hunt down a taxi, he might not make it. Since Ramiro was right there to pick me up at the gate, we offered to give him a lift. Again, as fate would have it, we arrived at the bus station just in time to see his bus pulling out of the bus station. Our Iranian friend was now without a ride to his destination, and sortof stranded. He could have obtained a hotel room, but I invited him (I think this was a challenge from God, actually, I was a bit afraid, both for me and for him) to stay at my dorm, and we would get him where he needed to go in the morning. He accepted the offer.
Now throughout this time, we shared our faiths with each other; I, a Christian, he, a Muslim (are they Shiite Muslims in Iran? I think they are, could be wrong though - gotta learn stuff like this). He had a picture of the Ayatollah Khomeini in his wallet. In all this talk however, I think I spoke from my heart, telling him why I believed in Jesus. I didn't shove a tract in his face or anything, but I may have spoken to God's grace being evident through Christ's death alone.
The one thing that bothered me the most about the whole thing was that this happened during the height of the hostage crisis, and the atmosphere in my dorm was really tense. A common picture posted on students' dorm rooms showed Marines hoisting a flag and inserting it in a certain part of a prominent Iranian's posterior. Not very friendly. I told my Iranian that he should not tell anyone where he was from or he could be in big trouble. I think he understood the danger, and we got him to his next ride the next day with no trouble.
I hope my witness that day was full of grace and truth, and I hope that my words found good soil in that young man's heart.
Earlier this year, I started a program of fasting and praying both for spiritual revival in my church, but also the nation and the world. During the war against Saddam, I fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays (and it almost exactly corresponded to the Lenten season). Now I just do it on Wednesdays, and I will dedicate tomorrow's prayer and fasting to Iran and the goal of freedom in Iran.
I think that it's possible that with anti-Muslim Iraqi government gone, the Iranian leaders may be enboldened, and it may put them in a better position than they were in before.
Posted by: Aakash at July 12, 2003 05:12 PM