Halting an Advancing Threat

I found this draft of a posting I wrote in the winter, when the Shafia family murder trials were taking place.  Four years ago, I would never have been able to articulate a position beyond: that is different and scary... let's oppose it.  Yet I have been in areas of the world where Sharia law is lived out, even if just behind closed doors.  While I cannot claim to be an expert in the things of Justice, Law, or Culture, I see an approaching threat

Recently, the media in Canada has been focussed on the results of one criminal trial. The Canadian Justice system, has in recent times, let us down in massive ways. If you speak to almost any Canadian, they have experienced, or know someone who have experiences a massive miscarriage of justice. So, when the parents and oldest child stood accused of killing 4 female members of their family, it felt like a litmus test of one of the istitutions that we put so much faith in, whether that faith is deserved or not.

For most Canadians, the shocking nature of the crimes being tried, this is an open and shut case. A watershed moment where we all get to stand unified against "evil" at its very core.

What made this case different however, was the additional layer of faith and a culture that is so alien to our way of life. The question of "honour killing" is one being faced all over the world. Christine Blatchford's article in the Ottawa Citizen (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Blatchford+heart+Shafia+trial+very+notion+what+girl/6069462/story.html) addresses the new trend being seen by the UN.

As we awaited the verdict from this trial, there was much talk about what a "not guilty" would mean for the agenda of Islam. Those who wish to see Sharia law throughout the world, could have pointed to this case as a precedent and left the unintended impression that Canadians implicitly endorse the application of Sharia Law within our boarders.

As the nation held its breath, I found myself praying for those on the jury who would be making this historical decision. I knew that too short a deliberation time, could result in cries of Pre-judgement and snap decisions. Too long deliberating could be construed as proof that this topic is worth the time of instensive debate, and that perhaps the public is divided. Without a unified viewpoint, the door is left open for the proponents of Sharia Law to forward their agenda.

Happliy, the perpetrators of the horrific crimes were found guilty and for now the worldview that would say killing a woman for her conduct is "honourable" has been held at bay.  In this country though, we are still vulnerable. 

I see within Canada especially an identity crisis in the area of gender.  We have, to quote a good friend, thrown out the baby with the bathwater when it comes to gender rights and equality.  In the midst of the debate and push for what we all believe is right (equality) we have forgotten about gender distinctives.  That we are different, and our difference are meant to be complimentary to one another and celebrated.  Instead, we have lost in some ways, the freedom to even have an opinion.  So it leaves us vulnerable.  If Canadians won't define our gender identities, others may come in, and through vociforous debate, lobbying or other means, create a situation where decisions must be made and if we don't have a strong position to vocalize, we may lose our place at the table where the decisions are made. 

Part of my grand adventure took me to Nepal.  One of the obeservations that we made when we were there was the ease with which men and women interacted with one another.  There are such well defined gender roles that it removes much of the angst between the genders.  While I don't necessarily agree with their definitions of the genders, I see the value in a common understanding. 

Grand Adventures

Life is a Grand Adventure!  Everyday we wake up with new mercies and a clean slate.  Sometimes, in the midst of our messy lives, those clean slates don't feel so clean, we don't see the opportunity, we hold onto what we recall was written yesterday, last year, or in our youth. Sometimes, to embrace the daily clean slate of following Christ, we must physically change our location, we must go so that we can return. 

I have been on a Grand Adventure.  Like any good adventure there was drama, some danger, uncertainty.  There were times of fear, and those moments where you look at your fellow travellers breathless and think "how did we come out of that unscathed?"  There were heroes, villains, damsels in distress and sidekicks, and I have been each of those in different measure at different moments.   There are stories to tell, stories that cannot be shared, and stories that mustn't be told especially with my mother in the room.  Some experiences are easy to relate, others difficult and more than a few cannot be communicate with words, they have taken up residence in my soul and have changed me forever.  There has been joy, laughter, tears, heartache and love.  And I am thankful!

For the last four years I have been experiencing things in life that I never thought possible.  more airports that I can count, more cities I ever imagined, more people from more places doing amazing (and not so amazing) things.  My life has been enriched and changed and challenged.

These boats ferry worshippers out to an island temple
-Pokura, Nepal

It has not been without cost.  I have missed more birthdays, special moments, quiet times and firsts than my heart will let me contemplate.  I have had to watch from afar as friends and family suffered loss, heartache and even joy without me.  I am not as naive about the world as I was, with more information comes deeper burdens.  I care about things and causes and situations more than I ever did.  I have lost much of my innocence.  I have seen the twisting of details in news stories and the mis-representation of facts to serve an agenda.  I have missed countless moments of meeting needs and coming through for.  But in there too there has been a lesson.

I needed to learn that I am not the giver of support and life, (God and I had an argument where He ended up asking... can you do brain surgery?  That is the only thing that is needed right now.... no?  OK stay put, I've got this!) the people who don't stick around, they didn't love you anyway, and maybe, just maybe there are some you didn't understand the depth of their love for you until you go away, and they stay. I learned not to be responsible for others' responses or reactions.  And I learned that when you do cool stuff with your life, people make all sorts of assumptions, they fill in details with things that they have long been dreaming about!

The biggest cost to my Grand Adventure (apart from the 100's of hours stuck in airports all over the world that look alike) has been the fragmentation which has occurred.  With four years of not knowing what 3 months from any moment will hold, it makes it hard to commit, invest or serve. 

It seems I am home for the summer, and already I can see that I am home in more ways than just physically present.  I have signed up for commitments at church, almost joined a softball league (am going to go to all the games and cheer them on-playing when they are shorthanded) and for the first time in four years, I am going to work here in my home city!  So much has changed in me, and in the world around me.  I wouldn't trade it for the world, but now, like any good adventure that comes to and end, it is time to unpack, sort through the souvenirs, and check to see what the mailman has dropped off while I was away!

I will endeavour to blog regularly through the summer, and as I 'unpack' I will share with you as much as I can about what I have brought home with me from my adventures.

Its good to be home!