THE TRAGEDY OF DARFUR continues to break my heart. It is an ongoing genocide that demands much greater attention and intervention. The situation has been ongoing for four years and yet the world community seems satisfied with letting Sudan police itself. The African Union welcomes support from the U.N. and yet the Sudanese government continues to oppose their involvement. What we are witnessing is ongoing slaughter and torture that can be compared to what the the world turned their backs on 12 years ago in Rwanda. To give you some background, I want to share some information from the savedarfur website.

Since February 2003 over 400,000 people have died and over 2.5 million people have been displaced from their homes. Each day, over 500 innocent people die from violence, malnutrition and disease. The people of Darfur experience horrendous crimes, including gang rapes of women and girls, burning of homes and religious buildings, killing of babies, and other atrocities. Despite their efforts to help civilians, relief organizations have been targeted and aid workers have been arrested by the Sudanese government. Today, more than 2.5 million people are suffering from a preventable humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, but countless more can be saved. Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter.

Government-backed militias, known collectively as the Janjaweed, have systematically eliminated entire communities and continue to do so. Government air strikes frequently precede these vicious militia raids. Villages are razed; women, men, and children are raped, tortured, and murdered. The Janjaweed also target and destroy Darfurian food and water supplies, threatening the victim’s chance for survival. These people are being deprived of their humanity.

Pray ...Get Informed ...Inform Others ...Get Invovled (see http://www.savedarfur.org/) ...Contact your Congressmen and Senators ...Give. We must do something to help those who suffer, and THIS TIME WE CAN. -Craig

Micah 6:6-8
What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

DIVERSITY ...is a word that is commonly misused and misunderstood. Many toss it around to win a debate or advance a cause. Others wait around for the expected benefit or personal reward. Still there are those who seek to achieve a goal that is not their own.

In essence, diversity is a beautiful gift from God. A self-centered society has made it far too complicated. Regardless of nation, tribe, or tongue, we exist to serve all mankind. Many are guilty of creating enemies in their own mind. This is accomplished by attributing varied skin tone, unfamiliar language, and cultural differences to all that is wrong with the world.

I was at Barnes and Nobles Bookstore recently and overhead a conversation that greatly disturbed me. Lest you think I was eavesdropping, the volume of the conversant kept me from focusing on my selected reading material, not to mention being able to enjoy my grande non-fat caramel machiato.

The individual was on a cell phone with a friend in another city. In attempting to receive help making a hotel reservation, he adamantly opposed accommodations at a place run by "foreigners." For this individual, the English language was the key to all things comfortable. How unfortunate!

I cherish the relationship I have with my friends from Ukraine, Sudan, Liberia, Congo, Togo, Zambia, Afghanistan, Kenya, Eritrea and Uganda. I am enriched and blessed to be in their presence. I value their customs and have great appreciation for their diverse cultures. I hope that you are being blessed in similar ways. -Craig

Happy 50th Anniversary Mom and Dad ...I want to take this opportunity to wish my parents a blessed anniversary. I also want to say thanks mom and dad for blessing my life in so many ways. God gave us (your 3 sons) a special gift in our parents. As the old saying goes, "you don't get to choose your parents." I am grateful to God for the parents that he chose for us. ...Craig (pictured are mom and dad with the grandchildren - Ashley, Meredith, Zach)

Uganda's Kidnapped Children ...Last week I shared some of the horrific acts that are taking place in Northern Uganda directed primarily toward innocent children. Click on the link above to receive more information. There are ways that you can be involved.

Pictured above is Stephen who is a kidnapped 16-year-old recovering from six months of battles and beatings. Read more...

Learn More About the Crisis
Children at War World Vision Magazine. More than 30,000 children in northern Uganda have become "night commuters" who must flee their homes to avoid being forced to fight in a brutal civil war.

Deliver Us From Kony Christianity Today. Why are the children of Uganda killing one another in the name of the Lord? Also from Christianity Today: Brutality Therapy Peace Not Out of Reach

More resources from the World Vision Web site. What You Can Do Take Action! Send a message to Congress, asking them to help protect the people of Uganda and bring an end to the conflict. You can help end this crisis!

Make a donation to help care for children affected by war. Pray for the children and families trapped in the middle of this conflict.

Stay off the paved road ...Craig

I have shared previously about the ongoing tragedy in Northern Uganda. Tens of thousands of children have been abducted by the L.R.A. The Lord's Resistance Army is a brutal cult organization that is intent on overthrowing the government of Uganda. They brainwash children at very early ages and force them to kill, terrorize, rape, and torture. The documentary called "Invisible Children" gives a detailed description of the horrific crisis. Below is a brief description'

Jacob, an African boy, looks into the camera and lets go with great, chest-heaving sobs. He cries until both he and the viewer hurt. Then he cries some more.

Surely at some point the camera will look away. But it never does. When night falls, Jacob runs and hides with thousands of other youngsters in basements and back alleys of towns in Northern Uganda. They flee a rebel army composed largely of children like them who were beaten and brainwashed into fighting in a pointless, 18-year civil war the world has largely ignored.

Jacob cries for his brother who was slaughtered by the rebels. The boy expresses his grief in plain English. He hopes, Jacob says, to rejoin his brother someday in heaven. It is one of many gripping scenes from "Invisible Children, " a documentary whose plaintive appeal is surprising effective.

The core truth of this deceptively crude film, its harsh beauty, flows from the blissful innocence, unyielding idealism and self-acknowledged naivete of its makers.
They are three white kids who grew up safe and comfortable in San Diego's suburbs. They firmly believe their documentary, still a work in progress, could be powerful enough to change the world. "The children of Northern Uganda are being killed and brutalized, and the fascinating thing to us is that no one is telling this story," said Jason Russell, the guiding force behind "Invisible Children." "This tragedy gets no international attention at all. We are going to change that."

This tragedy MUST receive our attention ....Craig

One Year Later... I am STILL very sad...to share about the loss of one of my Sudanese friends. David Dut Agaar died tragically in the city of Pittsburgh on January 29th. David was only 23 years old. He died on a street in the uptown section of the city at the hands of a thief who had absolutely no value for human life. Let me just share a little bit about David.

You may be aware that approximately six years ago, thousands of Sudanese young men started the journey of resettlement to U.S. cities. You have probably heard some of their horrific stories. David (with many other Sudanese young boys) fled Sudan at an early age to escape being brutally killed. The civil war in Sudan had taken the lives of over 2 million innocent men, women, and children. They fled to Ethiopia only to be caught in the crossfire of an escalating civil war. Their journey back to Sudan could be described as a death march as many lives were lost along the way. This was a terrible and almost indescribable tragedy.

I am sad to say that many are still losing their lives in the Western Darfur region of Sudan and along the southern border with Uganda. Men are killed; woman and children are beaten, raped, and taken into slavery. This all too familiar scenario is the backdrop by which many refugees are resettled to the U.S. We are supposed to have a safe and free nation. There are many positive things about living in the U.S., but we must not turn our backs on the injustice.

David came to the U.S. with the hope of a better life. He graduated from High School in Philadelphia and moved to Pittsburgh to be with friends and enroll in the Art Institute. I know he had dreams of a bright future. That all ended five days ago. I have absolutely no idea how one person can so senselessly take the life of another. What I do know is that we live in a nation where many citizens do not value human life. We don't value the poor! We don't value the homeless! We don't value the infirmed! We don't value the disabled! We don't value the unborn! We do not value the refugee! We have created a culture that says certain people are more important than others.

We then wonder why an individual will open fire on innocent people at a postal facility; or why teenagers would beat a homeless person to death; or why two people who think society owes them something, would try to take it by force resulting in the death of our friend David Agaar. A free society is not free and certainly not safe unless it is able to take care of it's most vulnerable. Currently, we are not doing a very good job. My prayer is that people of faith would stand strong for life and make a contribution that would reverse our present course. ...Craig