Salt Films

One of my youth pastors in high school lived in the West Bank in Palestine with his wife for about 3 1/2 years. They got to know a lot of the Christians living in this pre-dominantly Muslim area. As a result, a documentary film was made with 10 different 15-20 minute segments. We watched one of these segments for our film discussion on Sunday 9/2/07. I encourage everyone to check out the website when they can for Salt Films. I hope the link works. I'm having trouble going to the website today but it usually works fine. Just let me know if you'd like me to send you the student guide sheet that went along with this segment.

The segment we watched is called "The Way." Here we see a college student named Sylvia and the struggles she goes through to travel back and forth from school to home. She also talks about being the minority Christian student in her classes. It's a great lesson in perseverance after hearing the struggles she goes through to travel to school. It would ordinarily take 20 minutes to drive but because of the blockades the Israeli army has set up, they have to take long, winding trips through mountains. It can take as long as 5-7 hours! And sometimes they cannot get through depending on the soldiers' very inconsistent rules.

Being part of a Christian minority also has its difficulties, but they did not seem as bad as the struggles with the blockades. She has a Muslim roommate and they get along fine. She's one of the few Christians in her college, and definitely the only one in the class the video showed.

Now read Hebrews 12:1-3. If you face struggles and are a minority, you should not feel like you are alone. God is with you and you are surrounded by "a cloud of witnesses." Take comfort that there are thousands of people who have gone before you and have felt what you feel. Continue to run the race!

I encourage everyone to pray for the Christians in the world who are a minority in their community. Especially the ones who are in danger for their beliefs. This is something that is rarely experienced as a Christian in the U.S.