In the News

If you keep up with the news, I'm sure you've noticed that Turkey has been mentioned a lot. The Armenian Genocide Bill that our government officials might pass is constantly in the news. Yesterday there were a number of Turkish soldiers killed and some believed to have been taken hostage from an attack by the PKK. The PKK is a terrorist organization that wants a country for the Kurdish people. Turkey has held them responsible for 30,000 deaths since the early '80's. Turkey has been at war with the PKK for years. It seems very likely now after this attack that Turkey will enter into northern Iraq. Needless to say it doesn't appear that relations between America and Turkey are getting better. With all this in the news, it's on every Turks mind. They always want to talk politics. By the way Angie and I as well as the other Americans that we know haven't received any backlash from the recent events. In fact nearly everyone I meet when they find out that I'm from America says something like, "Oh, America very good." They are talking about the opportunity to make money however. They hate our President and our politics. Frankly I'm sick about talking politics. Everyone hates America, but they want to go there and live. Go figure! I constantly remind myself I'm not representing America, I'm representing Christ. It can be very easy to get caught up talking politics instead of preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. Anyway of late I've just been telling people something to the effect of, "Men are bad and there will always be war. The world is going to end, but I'm not afraid because I'm going to live with Jesus." By the looks I get from most people, it appears they think I'm crazy. So far unfortunately no one has wanted to take the conversation further than that. We don't know what will happen in Turkey's near future. I would like everyone to please pray for me especially. Tomorrow in language school we are supposed to talk about what we think Americans want. I want to use my time as an opportunity to bring glory to God. I need wisdom.

Free!

Today was the start of a three day holiday called Seker Bayram. Seker Bayram means sugar holiday. It comes at the end of Ramazan, the month of fasting. Generally kids will go door-to-door and you give them candy. Although I'm still waiting on kids to come to our door. I had to run an errand today, so I was off to the bus stop. The bus arrived and I began to put my card in the machine so I could ride the bus when I heard the word 'ucretsiz.' I looked at the driver and he said it again. Ucretsiz means I didn't have to pay for my ride on the bus. Now it was only 1ytl(1.17 right now), but still it was free. Apparently for the start of the holiday, the buses operated by the city were allowing people to ride for free. I found out that this is generally how it is during the major holidays. You know you just can't beat that price! Everyone loves to get something for free. In fact most people will take something they don't really need just because it's free. Well I was happy about my free ride. What's the first thing I did? I text messaged my wife and told her that I got a free ride. I received something that I thought was good and I immediately told someone else about it. We have a far greater gift in the salvation of Jesus Christ. It's free to us, thanks to God's great grace. Think of how excited you are when you get something for free, and you just want to call someone and tell them. Are you that excited about the gift of salvation that God has given you? Does it motivate you to tell someone else?