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22April2018

A few thoughts here on the current and recent happenings in Nicaragua.  As you likely know, there is significant unrest in what seems like most of the country.  With many friends, loved ones and brothers / sisters there, I wanted to add a perspective.  I've been working in Nicaragua since 2010, with my first trip there being in 2006, and have received personal and direct communication from many on the ground inside what is happening…  Please pray for Nicaragua, NOW.

First – the unrest that you are seeing now has been growing under the surface for a long time.

Second – the current government has been consolidating power in an illegal way for some years, and likely since it was elected to power.

Third – returning to what was – peace at any cost – is, in my opinion, a misguided sentiment.

Change wants to happen in Nicaragua.  What we can do is act, pray, and participate with the Lord to bring about a positive change for the people there.  For things to return as they were would be a lost opportunity.  Please don't interpret this as callousness toward the loss of life and destruction.  That is not how I feel.

If you have friends in Nicaragua, reach out to them and get their perspective of what is happening on the ground.  It will help you see something you can't see on the news.  It will help you pray in a more informed way.  It will help you share in their pain and the struggle they are going thru.

I read something this morning, from a Havana Times, a Cuban news outlet, that seemed to characterize what is going on in Nicaragua very clearly.  More than so many “Western” media outlets had courage to do.  I link it here….

Nicaragua: Government Repression and Censorship in Response to Protests

Not only that, there are indiscriminate killings and destruction being levied BY THE GOVERNMENT FORCES, both police and military.  A friend reached out yesterday to ask for prayer because a young man, grandson to her pastor, lost his eye in a spray of gunfire from police.  They were not demonstrating, and it didn't seem like it was even near a demonstration.  She sent a photo that made the situation all the more / surreal.

My parting thought here is this, things have reached a point of discontinuity in Nicaragua.  They can't go on as they are.  It seems unlikely that a social security change could open this door, but let's pray that Nicaragua goes thru the door toward a future of promise that can and should result from this difficult time.

To my many Nicaraguan friends, brothers, sisters and loved ones, I STAND WITH YOU!