For God's Sake

We are faithful CBC radio listeners and we continue to listen to Metro Morning out of Toronto even though we have left the GTA. I'm so glad I heard Rev. Christopher White of Fairlawn United speak about their frustrated efforts to bring a Syrian mother and her three daughters to Canada. Two of them are pictured above. Fairlawn began in January, well before the recent media attention, yet this family languishes in bureaucratic limbo in Lebanon. The population of Lebanon is 4.5 million and there are a million Syrian refugees there, so it isn't surprising that the government is deporting some of them back to Syria, even though they are returning to grave danger.

For the first time, on air, Chris spoke to the Syrian mother who has been learning English. He was moved to tears, and it was very touching to hear their exchange. He encouraged her not to lose hope. Shortly after this interview and exchange MP Joe Oliver was interviewed and I was emotionally again, angered by the bureaucratic babble and deflection. For God's sake, why isn't our government demonstrating compassion and expediting these situations?  Is it seriously afraid that a mother and young daughters who desperately need asylum are terrorists? I'm glad that host Matt Galloway challenged the nonsense we were hearing from Oliver.

I thought of the family of five United Churches in Belleville are sponsoring. They too are in Lebanon. Will they and we face the same nightmare?

Please pray for all circumstances where Canadians are choosing compassion for those in peril. God, work in the hearts of bureaucrats. Surely they do have hearts, tiny as they might be.

Listen to the interview with Rev. White.
http://www.cbc.ca/metromorning/episodes/2015/10/13/stuck-in-syria/