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I suppose I’ll never forget the time when as a kid someone gave me a rock tumbler for Christmas. I was so jazzed! It had been near the top of my list. I couldn’t wait to start. I imagined transforming raw rock into works of art.

This reality hit hard: It takes several stages and nearly two months to tumble a stone to shiny loveliness! How’d I miss that fact? After one set of stones, the tumbler migrated to a shelf, never to tumble again.

I’m thinking about the Parable of the Sower these days, but with a bit of a love/hate thing going on. It moves me deeply that the very nature of the Kingdom is growth. Like weeds and yeast, almost unstoppable. But at the same time, the very nature of the Kingdom usually is slow as plants growing. It takes forever!

Transformation in my life is slower than I wish. In other people’s lives, it’s glacial! ? And sometimes it seems like the Kingdom expansion we hope for, live for, in the Muslim world simply will never come.

So we sow. . . and we wait. . . and we watch. We celebrate every indication of growth, both in our own hearts and beyond. We look for ways to speed the growth while leaning hard on the one who promises a harvest in due time.

If you’re praying or caring for Muslims, if you’re finding ways to reach out and connect, good for you. You could pick easier stuff to do. Don’t give up. God is pleased for you to be his ambassador and through you to extend his offer of life.

If I can pray for you in these things, please shoot me a quick email and tell me how.

Authors David Borgenicht and Joshua Piven did readers (and their bank accounts!) a great service when they launched The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook series. For me it’s a scary sort of fun to imagine landing a plane or fighting off a shark, mostly because I realize the odds of such are almost infinitesimally small. 

Sometimes, and for some of us, it’s all of the scary and none of the fun. This makes me wonder what our collective worst-case scenarios are when we think about Muslims and global Islamic dynamics.

In the interest of bringing dark, scary stuff into the light (where it sometimes curls up and dies), here are some possibilities that may be swirling around in the corporate murk and in your own mind:

•  Western culture becomes increasingly secular, increasingly lacking a moral compass and opens the door for Islam to become the dominant religion.

•  Islamic regimes gain control in more and more countries and systematically eradicate Christian minorities.

•  Muslims grow in the U.S., band together and elect a Muslim president.

•  It turns out Islam is right about God after all.

•  Sharia comes to your town and your daughter wears a hijab to school.

What others am I overlooking? Can you take a moment and honestly share in the comments?

What does the Bible say either in prophecy or principle about these worst-case scenarios? What responses on our part are most biblical, healthy and helpful?

Three things hold my head together:

1. God wins. Probably not exactly the way I currently understand God and winning, but God will win. And you and I are invited to hasten that victory.
2. Math is our friend. Check this “Muslim as U.S. president” equation.
3. Some of my Christian sisters and brothers (Muslims as well. . .) are living their worst-case scenarios today. I should pray for them.

Special Note: My second article on the Dennison Forum went live yesterday. I’d be so grateful if you could take a moment and skim over “Six Things Christians Tend to Get Wrong about Muslims.” If you go above and beyond and leave a comment, well, I’d be so happy I’ll buy you a popsicle the next time we’re together!

I’ve been wondering about this. Are Muslim women oppressed? Is the oppression of women intrinsic to an orthodox understanding of the Quran? Do the supplemental texts, the Hadith and Sunnah endorse it? Is this yet another way in which backward Muslims are inferior to enlightened Westerners? (Sorry, got a little snarky there.)

Is the assumption that Muslim women are oppressed part of a broader tendency to lump all Muslims together? There are certainly situations in which oppression seems too light a word for what women in some Muslim majority nations face. Other women in other times and places have enjoyed what would appear to be great freedom of conscience and practice.

Three friends of mine, each with years lived abroad and current deep relationships with Muslim women weigh in:

Jami: “There is no way to say “Muslim women are….” about anything! No stereotype holds true for every story. Most of my current Muslim friends, both here in the U.S. and in various countries around the world, live lifestyles very similar to mine. The Truth Collective aspires to prove to women that the absence of Truth is the most violent oppression as it deprives women of security, identity and hope.

Emily: “Some interpretations of Islam are terrible to women. Others are not so terrible. It really depends so much on ethnicity and level of education”

Gayle: “Muslim women’s lives have different parameters of normal from the average western woman. What seems normal to them, doesn’t seem normal to us. But then what is normal in the western world today was not normal 150 years ago. Some differences are improvements, some not so much.”

My concern is that we use “oppression of women” as a reason to not just dislike Islam, but Muslims as well, to put them further away from us, to use a trendy term, “other-ize” them. The challenge is to love all Muslims and continue to learn, while not endorsing what is wrong.

Help me understand this more. Please comment here or email me.

Please see the special note at the bottom of today’s email regarding the end of this summer’s giving campaign.

Do you ever open Muslim Connect, make a face and wonder, “What’s he gonna ask me to do this week?” I’m sorry, but I sort of hope you do! Last week I asked you to trade away your whole life, move to Pakistan and take some friends with you. This week is a little easier.

I want you to laugh. Although you may also wince a bit, hopefully, you’ll laugh.

My new favorite comic is called “Yes, I’m Hot in This.” It’s created by Huda Fahmy, a Muslim woman from Houston who grew up in Detroit. Huda describes it as, “A webcomic about the musings of a slightly sweaty Muslim-American woman.”

Yes, it’s culturally instructive. Surprisingly, it’s also hilarious. Huda draws the comics for both Muslims and non-Muslims, poking fun at both sets of people. Of course, humor is very personal, but Huda’s works for me. Both in the laughing and the stinging.

She shares more than once her displeasure at being asked where she’s from. I’ve challenged you and anyone who’ll slow down to listen to ask that very question. I still have much to learn.

If you’ve got a moment and either a Facebook or Instagram account, take a look. Maybe even share it with your people. Check out Huda’s book here.

We need to hear from Muslims what it’s like to be a Muslim. All the better when you can do that with a smile or a bit of a wince. If you have two moments, share a favorite in the comments.

Special Request:
For three weeks each summer, I invite the Muslim Connect tribe to help this effort go forward by giving a financial gift. Many have already taken this chance to say both “Thanks” and “Go get ‘em!”  I’m very grateful for each gift.

If you’ve found value in Muslim Connect, I’d be grateful if you’d join them. When you do, you’ll get a copy of the brand new, “Ten Things Christians Should Know About Muslims” pdf. I’m crazy excited about the content and layout of this new piece. It’s designed to shake things up a bit and would look great in your church bulletin.

Click here to help Muslim Connect go forward and get the new “Ten Things” pdf. Thank you.

Please see the special note at the bottom of this week’s blog.

Imagine an idyllic Greek isle. What comes to mind? The picture in your head is probably a dead ringer for Samos Island: White, sandy beaches, towns so quaint you think they’re a Disney set and a sun that seems to kiss your happy face.

Well, at least that’s what Samos looked like until a couple of years ago. Now the population has swollen as asylum seekers continue to flood over the mile-wide straight from western Turkey.

In the spring of 2016, the European Union inked a deal with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants into Europe. Part of the deal included migrants staying where they land in Greece until their preliminary asylum interview, while another part allocated nearly $2 billion to Greece to care for them. The migrants are stuck on Samos. The money appears to be stuck somewhere else.

The result is a camp designed to hold 700 people now serves as a home of sorts for nearly 4000! Many more live in the woods adjacent to the camp, known locally as The Jungle. Food is scant. Healthcare hard to come by. Basic sanitation virtually non-existent. And the wait interminable.

As you might imagine, this creates a breeding ground for vermin, bugs and resentment. I wonder if it’s not an incubator for radicalism as well. Without justifying violence, it’s not hard to see how such might develop in situations like Samos today.

What can we do?

Throw up our hands in resignation? It’s tempting.

Tell them they should have stayed home? Some should have. Others left when their homes were blown out from under them.

Pray? Certainly a powerful, and in my case underused, response.

Go? I’m wondering about this. I don’t know, but maybe there are prayers to be prayed on site. Kids to be entertained. Pain to be absorbed and hope to be shared. Let me know what you think.

Though they may wonder, God has not forgotten them. Let’s not either.

Once a year I ask the Muslim Connect tribe to help this effort go forward by giving a financial gift. Muslim Connect has always been free and always will be. But this is your chance to say both “Thanks” and “Go get ‘em!” If you like what you’ve read, if you’ve been helped, I’d be grateful if you’d give. When you do, I’ll get you a copy of the brand new, “Ten Things Every Christians Should Know About Muslims” pdf. I’m crazy excited about how it looks and what it says. It’s designed to win hearts for Muslims and would look great on your church bulletin board.

Click here to help this message get farther in the coming year. Thank you.

Don’t you love the feeling of discovering something unexpected and good? Growing up in Indiana it was arrowheads in the field behind our house or mushrooms in the woods. On a walk last week here in Southern Colorado, I stumbled upon a beautiful pair of shed mule deer antlers.

I had that same feeling recently reading about a guy in Lancaster, PA who helps refugees host dinners in their homes. Bridge, the brainchild of Mustafa Nuur, himself a refugee from Somalia, is “a social enterprise business dedicated to introducing the cultures and stories of refugees through food and talk.”

Nuur says, “When you hear a refugee’s story, it’s going to be very difficult for you to hate them.” (Tweet this.)

What a brilliant idea! Nuur trains refugees from Syria, Eritrea, Iraq and elsewhere to host dinners for people who’d like to understand those cultures and traditions. He also arranges larger events designed to introduce the community to refugees. For these, he strongly encourages attendees to bring along someone who’s never met an immigrant.

Some of the benefits include:

1. Refugees make a little money.
2. The refugee’s culture, life and presence is validated.
3. Bridges are built between refugees and their new community.
4. Locals gain insight, appreciation and compassion that is otherwise unobtainable.
5. Connections are made that can lead to ongoing interaction and benefit.

Could this happen in your community? Maybe somewhere nearby? I would love to see this idea proliferate around the US, Canada and beyond.

Toward that end, can I ask you three things?

1. Pray for Mustafa and his efforts in Lancaster and other cities.
2. Let me know if you’re aware of similar, refugee-hosted efforts.
3. Reach out if you’d like someone to scheme with about launching this in your town. I don’t want to overestimate my practical help, but I will be your biggest cheerleader.

These have been some challenging days for Americans. Maybe even more challenging for you, if you’re from elsewhere. I want to think rightly about the violence in El Paso and Dayton, about the troubling situations in Hong Kong and Kashmir. About threats and woe and fear.

I want to be happy and at peace, but how can I if the bell does indeed toll for us all?

Into this sense of disquiet, my friend Brian’s words dropped recently:

I find that there is a true hunger, a deep longing among many people to relate to others quite different than ourselves. It begins with two vital attitudes:

1. An inquisitive learning posture that says, “I don’t know you, but I want to. I’m here to listen, to ask questions, to find out what makes you tick.”

2. A willingness to take a risk, to be vulnerable, to have an attitude of humility.  (Tweet these.)

I want those “two vital attitudes” in me. I want to find others who want them and encourage and equip them in their efforts.

There’s not much I can do to help protesters in Hong Kong, Christians and Muslims on edge in India, nor grieving families in Texas and Ohio. But I can cultivate those attitudes. I can be a little vulnerable and ask someone different from me what they think, how they’re doing.

This won’t usher in an age of utopia, but it’s what I can do, we can do. And God being who God is, the ripple effect of even a small effort is honestly incalculable. You in?

Thanks for reading this far. If you have a few seconds more, I’d like to ask you a favor. Yesterday, an insightful and influential website, The Denison Forum, published an article I wrote. It would be great if you could give it a little boost simply by clicking through to it. If you comment, I’d be over the moon! The Denison Forum might be a good way to get some of what we all think out to a wider world.