Pray for Greece

I just received this update from Jeremy and Julie, some friends of ours who are serving in Greece. You may have heard reports of political unrest there in the news - please read below and pray with us for them. Thanks!

"We have already begun to receive emails and facebook notes about our safety and what is happening in Greece. We just wanted to let you know that all is okay. The trouble that you are seeing on the news is happening, but the country is NOT in chaos (a Greek word). All of the protests happen in about 2-3 blocks of a section of downtown – one that is easily avoidable. Though Greece is having difficulties economically and politically (adding to them the deaths of 3 people today from a fire), we are expecting things to calm down pretty quickly.

Our bigger concern is how this is being portrayed in the USA. We currently have 3 teams of staff/students slated to come for summer project in just about 3 weeks. We have been planning all semester for these teams, and are trusting that they won’t be disrupted by anything on this side during the time they are here. Our bigger concern is the pervasive fear that could cause parents and students to decide not to come. Not many desire to walk into “harm’s way” - but the reality is that Greece is a safe country, and these protests you see are part of the political process (as crazy as that sounds). Though 20,000 may attend the protest, almost all of them are protesting in a very safe manner. There are others, mostly anarchists, who love to stir up trouble with the police and cause things to get out of hand.

Would you join us in praying:

1. For the politicians in Greece, that they would stand upright in integrity and be able to forge a way through this difficult economic time
2. That God would be using these difficulties to soften the hearts of all the Greeks to hear about the hope and peace that is only found in a personal relationship with Jesus
3. That our summer projects would not be cancelled or disrupted because of these problems

We have just begun, after 3.5 years, to see visible fruit and change in the lives of our friends. It is no wonder that the enemy wants to stir up trouble to impede further progress for the gospel. But our God is victorious, and His plans are good."