{"id":1828,"date":"2011-02-13T21:47:31","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T03:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/mainlineportal\/?p=1828"},"modified":"2011-02-13T21:47:31","modified_gmt":"2011-02-14T03:47:31","slug":"egyptian-surprise-bears-repeating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithforward\/2011\/02\/egyptian-surprise-bears-repeating\/","title":{"rendered":"Egyptian Surprise Bears Repeating"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

By Jeff Wright<\/em><\/p>\n

The day before our In the Footsteps<\/a> <\/em>tour group boarded flights to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Egyptian youth were boarding buses to gather in Cairo.\u00a0 \u00a0Protesters were planning \u2013 once again \u2013 to confront the oppressive government of President Hosni Mubarak.\u00a0 Along our way every day, tour participants watched the events unfolding just south of us, praying that the popular uprising might not end in violence and defeat.<\/p>\n

The uprising, led in large part by young adults hungering for a political, social and economic freedom their parents had not known, produced extraordinary and unexpected fruit.<\/p>\n

Just two hours ago, after thirty years of rule, Mubarak threw in the towel.\u00a0 In spite of brutal intervention by Mubarak\u2019s goons, demonstrators remained remarkably peaceful.\u00a0 The protest was eventually joined by judges, members of the poverty-ridden working class, physicians in their white coats and, finally, many Egyptian soldiers.\u00a0 Gathered as one \u2013 their chant was \u201cWe are all Egyptians\u201d \u2013 Muslims, Christians and others joined hands and hearts and nonviolently overthrew a brutally oppressive regime.<\/p>\n

It bears repeating.\u00a0 A brutally repressive regime, which for thirty years had shaped the lives of nearly eighty million people, was toppled without raising a fist or firing a gun.<\/p>\n

No one knows what will come next.\u00a0 We hope for the best.<\/p>\n

But once exposed, what the Apostle Paul calls \u201cthe powers and principalities\u201d (Romans 6:12) do not go quietly.\u00a0 As worshippers in the synagogue in Capernaum witnessed, they resist by way of a violent shaking and loud shrieks (Mark 1:21-27).<\/p>\n

So we watch and pray.\u00a0 Some of us will act.\u00a0 We will become more informed about our nation\u2019s overt and covert support of the Mubarak regime.\u00a0 We\u2019ll explore the difficult and complex realities of living in a country that has taken on the responsibility of policing much of the world.\u00a0 We\u2019ll speak up.\u00a0 There are no easy answers.<\/p>\n

But as hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have shown the world \u2014 gathered across what many have seen as insurmountable spiritual and social divides \u2013 the way forward is fueled by faith, hope and love.<\/p>\n

As you seek to make sense of life in the Middle East, I suggest that you add the following to your list of sources.\u00a0 Both are well-informed and offer commentary beyond the mainstream narratives.<\/p>\n