what makes you mad?

I confess.  Sometimes I get mad.  Maybe I get cut off in traffic or a sales person is rude to me.  When this happens, I’m wise to step over it, forgive quickly, and move on.

But I also get mad when I see injustice or cruelty.  This kind of anger doesn’t feel wrong. In fact, it feels very right–a  “holy discontent,”  as someone has called it.  This kind of anger makes me want to do something.

Right now, I am really mad about genocide in the remote Nuba Mountains of the Sudan.  These are not just nameless, faceless people thousands of miles away. I have actually been to the Nuba Mountains, a story I share in Sometimes He Whispers, Sometimes He Roars: Learning to Hear the Voice of God.  I have visited the Nuba people, shared a meal, even prayed with them. This hits hard.

Bombings, torture, rape and other atrocities are being documented by our American friend, Ryan Boyette. He stayed behind to tell this story to the world. In short, the Nuba Mountain people are being brutally attacked by their own government, an extremist regime headed up by President al-Bashir, already wanted for war crimes. Media outlets around the world are calling this campaign of terror in the Nuba Mountains “another Darfur.”

These brutal attacks have prevented aid from reaching the Nuba people. Food has become a weapon of destruction. Scores of men, women, and children have retreated to caves for safety with only leaves, grass, and if you can imagine, bugs to eat as documented in this disturbing eye-witness account by Franklin Graham.

What can you do? A few minutes and a few dollars can make a huge difference. First, pray. Will you join me in praying a minute a day for the Nuba people and  Ryan Boyette? Second, donate to the work of Samaritan’s Purse who has set up refugee camps for the Nuba people across the border in the newly independent South Sudan.  Third:  Call your congressman and can say something like:  “I want to be among the many in this district that are deeply concerned that the Nuba Mountain Region of Sudan is fast becoming another Darfur.  I encourage you Mr. Congressman or Ms. Congresswoman to become a co-sponsor of HR4169. (They will know what this means).

“Holy discontent” should move you to action.  Let your voice be heard.  Go to God in prayer and then to your government. If the crisis in the Nuba Mountains doesn’t make you mad, then what on earth does?