Another week passes here in Denmark. And the rest of the world too, I suppose. The war in Iraq has sort of been the new development for us. It's very different being out of the country when we're at war. All of the news is in Danish so it's difficult to keep up to speed. It's also tough to respond to all of the people who ask us about it. It's hard to answer because I feel so removed from a lot of what's happening. Also my own personal opinions shift as the situation changes or I listen to different sides of the story. A lot of times I wish there was no war just because it would make my life a lot easier and I wouldn't have to worry about what my views were, and I wouldn't have to choose between defending or vilifying my country.
 
Interesting related story. We were in a classroom to talk about America and we were divided into groups so the kids would feel more comfortable asking questions. I was in a group with Kirsten and about seven other students. When we went around and said our names, there was a group of three boys whose names were pretty non-Danish. They mostly just stared at us for a whole hour.
About five minutes before we were finished, and after I had explained my own personal thoughts on the war, a teacher walked up and started listening to us. She started talking to the three boys who clearly didn't want to talk. She told us they were Muslim. I started to wonder what they thought about all of my talk about Jesus and why I was on team. Then after a small debate with the three boys, she told us they were all three from Iraq, and had moved to Denmark between five years and six months ago. I was floored. I had no idea what to say.
 
Then the teacher told us that one of the students had family in Baghdad that he could not communicate with and that another of them had relatives in Basra, a town name I recognized from the news because of heavy resistance to American occupation. I was speechless. There we were, two sets of foreigners whose countries were at war. People from my country were killing people from their country, maybe people they knew. I was an extension of a political force that was dropping bombs on his neighborhood. The war seemed a lot more real and I did not like the way it felt. I felt like they should hate me.
 
I really don't know though. Maybe they wanted to get rid of the current government enough that it was okay. Maybe they saw us as a blessing in disguise. Maybe.
 
Afterwards, we did an acoustic song for the entire class and everyone clapped and seemed to enjoy it, but my heart wasn't really in it. Why should those boys listen to anything I say? Would I listen if I were them? It's times like this when I am glad I don't have to have all the answers. God is so much greater than anything I can imagine and works in ways beyond my comprehension. Sometimes you just gotta do your best and trust God to take care of it. Just lean on those promises He makes 'cuz sometimes that's all you've got.
 
Peace that passes all understanding to y'all-