THURSDAY, January 7

Nowhere have I seen or experienced the light of the gospel shattering the darkness as powerfully as I have witnessed it in war-torn Sudan, where the people know well what it means to live in darkness. Here the gospel sheds its light into the land's darkest corners, illuminating for the people the powerful hope that comes from believing in Christ Jesus, who loves them no matter what. In that hope and love, they are rescued and made whole, sometimes for the first time in their lives, through the redemption offered and obtained by Jesus.

This redemption is changing the face of Sudan, as it is changing much of Africa, for Christ's redemption crosses all racial lines, all ethnic lines, all tribal lines, and invites people as never before into the only tribe that counts, the tribe of God.

Christians here, having moved from darkness to light, are desperate to spread that light themselves. Some days, the progress is incredibly slow, but they are not giving up, because without that light, they know they and their land will fail and death will follow.

In the light, they have life.

PRAY for the Diocese of Agra (North India)

Ps 103 * 114, 115; Deuteronomy 8:1-3; John 6:30-33, 48-51