The Simple Truth

I (Kathy) read a book recently by David Baldacci called "The Simple Truth". After years of covering up the murder of a young girl, the simple truth of what really happened was at long last revealed. In an era when racism held a tight lid on the facts, an innocent man on death row finally gets his justice.

Sometimes we spend so much time questioning, doubting, and being cynical, that the simple truth of the gospel gets lost. In an age of post-modernism, both here in Europe and in America, a lot of great questions are being asked. I am all for digging deep and having the courage to probe, but I wonder if part of the price tag has been a cover up of the simple truth.

My daughter Kristi witnessed a very unsettling event in Seattle this past year. A man stood in a park yelling a gospel to an unlikely audience including a woman without shoes and a man who didn't know where his next meal would come from. I say "a gospel" rather than "the gospel", because, as Kristi put it when describing this event to me, "his gospel is not the gospel that I know. Christ's love met needs. It gave away shoes and food and a place to stay."

So the questions get asked and the answers seem elusive. But today it all seems so simple to me. I was reading in Revelation 2, about hanging onto our first love. And as I studied the word love, I found very simply that Jesus said "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself". Pretty simple. We don't only love God, and we don't only love people. We love God. We love people. The simple truth.

A day with IJM

International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. They have 4 facets to their work: rescuing victims, prosecuting perpetrators, providing victim after-care, and working towards policy change within the legal systems of countries where slavery abounds. Kevin met the Director of IJM Europe, Terry Tennens, at the Christian Associates leadership conference in Portugal this past February. Kevin's interest in bringing justice issues to Crossroads was sparked. He spent many hours during the last several months recruiting and meeting with a team of Crossroaders who have taken the vision on with a zeal. Many team meetings as well as meetings between our team and various attorneys and government officials culminated this past weekend with a visit from Terry Tennens along with the COO of IJM, Scott Lewis (from Washington D.C.). They spent a full day with several local pastors, Europol, and the former chair of the Christian Democratic Party of the Netherlands. The day ended with Terry and Scott in our home for dinner, joined later by our Crossroads team. By the end of the evening our committee was given the green light to pursue next steps in setting up an affiliate office here in the Hague.

To quote Peter Luttik, a key player in our Crossroads IJM team, "the excitement about what we discussed last friday doesn't seem to ebb...". That sentiment is shared by many others as well. Kevin feels very privileged to have played a role in what may become a pretty significant force right here in The Hague in the fight against slavery.