It was a lovely, touching meeting with M. tonight. We got to know him a couple of months ago in church; a very friendly, tenderhearted young man with a lovely wife and son. He had found the church by the relentless outreach of fellow church members to the refugee center in our town. And now he wanted to be baptized.<\/p>\n
M told me his story. A story probably like many others, and a story not yet convincing enough for the authorities to grant him asylum. But it struck me enough to keep me thinking for a while. Because, as it seems to happen so very often these days, I faced myself in a mirror.<\/p>\n
M’s story is one of a hard-working middle class young man turning into a second-class, frightened foreigner in one year. In Iran, he had a job, a car, a house and a family. Getting up each morning at 5, taking pride in his job, taking care of his family. His only mistake: questioning the behavior of the country’s leaders. He had been imprisoned before, this time he chose to flee.<\/p>\n
And with that, he lost his job, his car, his house and his family – but most importantly, he lost his pride. There he was, in a small room with his wife and son, staring at the walls, doing nothing. He was feeling nervous, he said, as did his wife. On top of that – or as a result, who knows – she got a miscarriage. An almost unstoppable downward spiral.<\/p>\n
The very next day, M. said, an angel walked in. She talked, comforted, sat besides them, took them to the doctor. And she gave them both a Bible. Long story short: they moved to my town, the angel called another angel, some angels from my church got involved – and slowly but surely the walls of fear, nerves, isolation came down. Up to the point where M. had read the Bible, knew what he wanted and gave his life to Christ. As his wife had done just a few weeks before.<\/p>\n
As I said: I faced a mirror. Because, when M. came walking into our church, I did not just see a lovely guy. I saw a second-class, shy foreigner. An asylum seeker, feeling insecure, unable to express himself in Dutch or English, hiding in the safety of the backseat with the other members of the Iranian community. One of those that you really don’t know what to say to or what to talk to about.<\/p>\n
It had simply never crossed my mind that this same guy had sat ‘in the front row’ in his home country. That he had had the courage and the qualities to speak up, to ask questions, to lead. That it was exactly that bold behaviour that had brought him here. I faced the mirror: I am the strange guy here, trapped by stereotypes and images, ignorant and blind. I’m glad he was here tonight. I feel privileged to take part in his baptizing next Sunday.<\/p>\n
It will be heaven.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was a lovely, touching meeting with M. tonight. We got to know him a couple of months ago in church; a very friendly, tenderhearted …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[53],"tags":[205,7],"class_list":["post-1443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-english","tag-thoughts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Mark","author_link":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/author\/admin\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?fit=200%2C149&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?fit=260%2C194&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?fit=260%2C194&ssl=1",260,194,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?resize=100%2C100&ssl=1",100,100,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?fit=200%2C149&ssl=1",200,149,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?fit=260%2C194&ssl=1",260,194,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?fit=260%2C194&ssl=1",260,194,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?fit=260%2C194&ssl=1",260,194,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?fit=260%2C194&ssl=1",260,194,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?fit=260%2C194&ssl=1",260,194,true],"bravada-featured":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?resize=260%2C194&ssl=1",260,194,true],"bravada-featured-lp":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?resize=260%2C194&ssl=1",260,194,true],"bravada-featured-half":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?resize=260%2C194&ssl=1",260,194,true],"bravada-featured-third":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?resize=260%2C194&ssl=1",260,194,true],"bravada-lpbox-1":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?resize=260%2C194&ssl=1",260,194,true],"bravada-lpbox-2":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/refugee.jpg?resize=260%2C194&ssl=1",260,194,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Mark","author_link":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"It was a lovely, touching meeting with M. tonight. We got to know him a couple of months ago in church; a very friendly, tenderhearted …","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Blog<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Blog<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["English<\/a>","thoughts<\/a>"],"unlinked":["English<\/span>","thoughts<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Geplaatst 14 jaar geleden","modified":"Bijgewerkt 14 jaar geleden"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Geplaatst op 1 december 2011","modified":"Bijgewerkt op 1 december 2011"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Geplaatst op 1 december 2011 23:03","modified":"Bijgewerkt op 1 december 2011 23:03"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p63Qy-nh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1274,"url":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/2010\/10\/12\/cape-town-2010-thoughts-on-ephesians\/","url_meta":{"origin":1443,"position":0},"title":"Cape Town 2010: thoughts on Ephesians","author":"Mark","date":"12 oktober 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The bible book of Ephesians is the focus of the Cape Town 2010 devotionals. Here is my contribution to that conversation. I once heard the story of an American general (apparently the only one) that was made POW during World War II. He was imprisoned in a Japanese camp in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/c\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/lausanne-capetown-2010-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":534,"url":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/21\/a-strange-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":1443,"position":1},"title":"A strange world…","author":"Mark","date":"21 maart 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I''m in a strange mood, or rather: a strange world... Today at 12.21 I put an ad online to sell our car. Five minutes later I was in another world of suspense, deals, money, maybe even crime... About one minute after the ad was online, the phone rang. I could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"fun\"","block_context":{"text":"fun","link":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/tag\/fun\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":400,"url":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/01\/somethings-going-on\/","url_meta":{"origin":1443,"position":2},"title":"Something’s going on","author":"Mark","date":"1 maart 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Just received two emails almost simultaneously about the Middle East. Very encouraging stories from some of the main countries in the area.Recently one of the Christian leaders in shared that the response to the gospel is unprecedented in the Middle East right now. He referred to the story of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"thoughts\"","block_context":{"text":"thoughts","link":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/tag\/thoughts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1064,"url":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/2010\/04\/19\/good-news-to-the-poor\/","url_meta":{"origin":1443,"position":3},"title":"Good news to the poor","author":"Mark","date":"19 april 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I met him again, my friend Nermin. Originally from the Balkan, now living in Almere in a beautiful part of the city. His place has 6 bathrooms, a huge pond and a basketball court. The only problem: it has no roof. And actually, the bathrooms are the public ones\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/c\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/armeko-100x100.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1327,"url":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/2011\/01\/26\/drunk-angry-stupid-and-blogging\/","url_meta":{"origin":1443,"position":4},"title":"Drunk, angry, stupid \u2013 and blogging","author":"Mark","date":"26 januari 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night I watched The Social Network, the movie on Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. I was anxious to learn about the start of Facebook and to understand some of the concepts behind it. And yes, I got some insights - but quite different than I expected. The plot is built\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/c\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1070,"url":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/2010\/04\/26\/freedom-for-prisoners\/","url_meta":{"origin":1443,"position":5},"title":"Freedom for Prisoners!","author":"Mark","date":"26 april 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I wrote a blog called 'Good news to the poor' in which I referred to the verses from Luke 4\/Isaiah 61. This verse happens to be the motto for Athletes in Action's summer outreach to Africa. Good news for the poor, sight to the blind, freedom for prisoners.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/c\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.athletesinaction.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/AIA-Voorjaars-Event-2010.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boerenroem.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}