[AkhirZaman.org] Mengapa ,Tuhan, mengapa . . . ?Ini bukanlah doa tak dikenal di kalangan orang-orang Kristen—Mengapa ia mengidap kanker? Mengapa saya dipecat? Mengapa Tuhan tampaknya melupakan kita? Namun demikian, Yesus, mengatakan, Allah-Ku,mengapa . . . ? diatas kayu salib, lalu berbisik, sudah selesai, menandakan bukan hanya akhir penderitaan-Nya, melainkan selesai karya-Nya.
Irene Ferrel lulus dari sekolah Alkitab di Los Angles dengan beban misi di luar negeri. Ia menemukan tempatnya di Kongo (Zaire) di mana selama 10 tahun ia mengajar sekolah, memberitakan tentang Kristus, dan bekerja di sebuah rumah sakit di semak-semak Kwulu.
Pada tahun 1964, pemberontak komunis mengerahkan kaum gerilya untuk menggulingkan pemerintah. Para misionaris di Pripinsi Kwulu diancam. Irene dan rekan sekerjanya Ruth Hege memutuskan untuk melakukan evakuasi dari posko mereka. Sebuah helicopter dikerahkan, dan pada tanggal 24 Januari 1964, keduanya bersiap-siap untuk pergi.
Mereka mengepak barang-barang yang penting lalu mengumpulkan para pekerja berkebangsaan Kongo untuk beribadah untuk yang terakhir kalinya. Irene memainkan organ. Lagu terakhir menggema, doa-doa terakhir dipanjatkan,dan kaum wanita mulai menantikan kedatangan helicopter. Ketika tidak datang-datang juga, mereka memutuskan untuk mundur dan bangun pagi-pagi untuk menunggunya keesokan harinya.
Tidak lama setelah tengah malam, para pemberontak muda yang telah diracuni menyerang. Kaum muda, sebagian diantaranya masih remaja, mengisap mariyuana, menghancurkan jendela-jendela dan berteriak-teriak haus darah. Saat menyerbu rumah, mereka menarik-menarik wanita dari tempat tidurnya dan menari-menari mengelilingi mereka dalam lingkaran dibawah cahaya bulan. Seseorang menembakkan anak panah ke leher Irene. Dengan sisa-sisa tenaganya, ia menarik anak panah itu dan berbisik,”Habislah aku,” dan mati.
Ruth Hege juga diserang oleh anak panah, berpura-pura mati, tidak bergerak sedikit pun ketika salah satu di antara pemberontak itu menari lepas genggam rambutnya. Hanya setelah para penyerang itu akhirnya lari ke hutan barulah Ruth merangkak mencari tempat perlindungan.
Banyak orang Kristen yang lenyap pada pergolakan tahun 60-an di Kongo itu, baik misionaris-misionaris Protestan maupun Katolik. Itu adalah masa pembantaian. Mengapa helicopter itu terlambat? Mengapa hamba-hamba Tuhan kadang-kadang lenyap? Suatu hari nanti kita akan mengerti.
Hingga saat itu kita percaya,sadar bahwa kebaikan-Nya tidak pernah berkesudahan.
Sangkaku: hilang lenyaplah kemasyuranku dan harapanku kepada Tuhan. Ingatlah akan sengsaraku akan ipuh dan racun itu. Jiwaku selalu teringat akan hal itu dan tertekan dalam diriku. Tetapi hal-hal inilah yang kuperhatikan, oleh sebab itu aku akan berharap. Tak berkesudahan kasih setiaTtuhan, tak habis-habis rahmat-Nya (Ratapan 3:18-22)
Reading this in pieces during a long afternoon and finding it consistently rewarding, and a stop at buildgrowthsystems fit naturally into the same fragmented reading pattern, sites whose posts can be read in segments without losing the thread are well suited to how I actually read these days and this one is built well.
Reading carefully here has reminded me what reading carefully feels like, and a look at actionoverhesitation extended that reminder, the experience of careful reading versus skimming is different in ways I had partially forgotten and this site has clearly refreshed my memory of what attention feels like when content rewards it consistently.
Reading this gave me something to think about for the rest of the afternoon, and after growththroughmotion I had even more to mull over, the kind of post that lingers in the background of your day rather than evaporating immediately is genuinely valuable in an attention economy that punishes depth rather than rewarding it.
Reading this gave me something to think about for the rest of the afternoon, and after actionremovesfriction I had even more to mull over, the kind of post that lingers in the background of your day rather than evaporating immediately is genuinely valuable in an attention economy that punishes depth rather than rewarding it.
Speaking as someone who reads a lot on this topic this site has earned a high position in my source rankings, and a stop at nexustower reinforced that ranking, the informal ranking of sources for a topic is something I maintain mentally and this site has moved into the upper portion of those rankings clearly.
Bookmark folder reorganised slightly to make this site easier to find, and a look at clarityoveractivity earned the same accessibility upgrade, the small organisational moves I make for sites I expect to return to often are themselves a signal of how much I trust them and this site triggered those moves naturally.
Thanks for not padding this with the usual filler intros and outros that every other blog seems to require, and a quick visit to directionsharpensfocus continued that lean approach across more posts, content stripped of waste is content that respects you and I will always come back to that kind of approach.
Most of the time I feel the open web is in decline and then I find a site like this, and a stop at actionledgrowth reinforced that mood lift, the cumulative effect of finding occasional excellent independent content versus the cumulative effect of finding mostly mediocre content is real for the long term reader maintaining web habits today.
Felt the post was written for someone like me without explicitly addressing me, and a look at executeideasfast produced the same fit, when content lands on its target without pandering you know the writer has done careful audience thinking rather than relying on demographic targeting or interest signals to do the work of editorial decisions.
Looking at the surface design and the substance together this site has both right, and a look at visiontoexecution reinforced that integrated quality, sites where presentation and content reinforce each other rather than fighting are sites with full editorial coherence and this one has clearly invested in both layers in a balanced way.
A piece that did exactly what it promised in the headline without overshooting or underdelivering, and a look at directionguidesgrowth continued that calibration, alignment between promise and delivery is a basic editorial virtue that many sites fail at and this site has clearly mastered the matching of expectation and substance throughout pieces.
During a reading session that included several other sources this one stood out, and a look at momentumwithmeaning continued the standout quality, the side by side comparison of sources during research is a useful exercise and this site has been winning those comparisons for me consistently across multiple research sessions during the last week.
Once you start reading carefully here it is hard to go back to lower quality alternatives, and a stop at directionstartsclarity reinforced that ratchet effect, the way good content raises standards is real over time and this site has clearly contributed to raising my expectations for what is possible in writing on the topic generally.
If I had to defend the time I spend reading independent blogs this site would feature in the defence, and a look at clarityactivatesprogress reinforced that defensive utility, the ongoing case for non algorithmic reading is one I make to myself periodically and sites like this one provide the actual evidence that supports the case clearly.
Better than the average post on this subject by some distance, and a look at conchclove reinforced that, you can tell within the first paragraph that the writer here actually cares about the topic rather than just covering it for the sake of having something to publish that week or that day.
Reading this post made me realise I had been settling for lower quality elsewhere, and a look at actiondrivenshift extended that recalibration, content that exposes how much I had been accepting in adjacent sources is content with calibrating effect on my standards and this site is performing that calibration function across topics for me reliably.