Pray for Syria

In 1982 President of Syria Hafez  al-Assad,father of Bashar al-Assad, the

current President, ordered a massacre of the people of Hama, Syria (click on link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_massacre to read about this).  His son, has recently been ruthlessly killing people  in this same town.  When I visited there in 1995 with a small tour group, we  were allowed to take pictures of the stunning water wheels, and beautiful  buildings,

but forbidden to take any photos of buildings that still had bullet  holes in them from this massacre.  When we asked what would  happen to us if we  did, the tour guide said "Nothing would happen to you.  it would happen to me  for letting it occur."  Our Syrian guide would only talk openly with us when we were walking down the middle of the street with no one around, including our driver who he didn't trust.  Then he would answer anything we asked him,otherwise he would not answer us when we asked about what happened there.

We  stayed at a new, high rise, ultra modern hotel built supposedly upon the mass  graves of those who died.  That really haunted me.  It was as though I could  hear the cries of those people.  Now, history is repeating itself.  I had several in-depth conversations with our guide, a Muslim. He always started the conversations with me and they invaribly turned to beliefs.  He worried about many things.  He had been a civil engineer who became  a tour guide.  He was extremely knowledgable about the country's history.  His  work was mostly conducting tours for Western Europeans.  They were booked in  European style hotels where alcoholic beverages were served. Once when we  stopped in the day to get refreshment, some  in our group were

drinking alcohol.   He ordered some too. but was very uncomfortable about it. He had noticed that  I always ordered juice or water.  He wondered out loud about this.  I told him I  didn't drink. He said he wasn't supposed to and if his wife found out  he'd be  in real trouble.  I said, "Well, why do you do it?"  His answer, "I don't want  people to think I'm a fundamentalist Muslim'. I said, "So what?  People may  think I'm a fundamentalist Christian.  i don't care."  He smiled and said, "Next time, I don't drink'. He kept returning and returning to ask me questions.  One  night as our small tour group sat around in the hotel lobby he looked right at  me and asked "What do you think of Islam".  I was taken off guard to say the  least!  I did not attack this head on.  i had just sat there and watched the  pain on his face as he saw young local girls in skimpy attire sneaking into the   hotel to go to the disco.  I ended up by saying, "My main problem with Islam is  that I believe Jesus is the Messiah, not just a prophet".  We talked for quite a  while as the others listened, with even the German guy in our group translating  our conversation to a Swiss guy who did not understand English!  This was not  the only time this guide asked me questions leading to real conversation.   During  recent days I have wondered about him and his family.  Is he safe?  Has  he been murdered and dumped in a mass grave?  My heart aches for these people. Many in the West hear Arab and think terrorist, fundatmentalist;  This is NOT  true. To begin with, there are many Arab Christians - our brothers and sisters -  who need our prayers.  And there are many, like the Syrian guide I met, who are  struggling to find answers and crying out for freedom.  Please pray for this  country and these people.