Praying for a children's hospital.

In a few hours I'm going to walk down to Ush Ghrab park to participate in an ecumenical worship service. Ush Ghrab is the site of an abandoned military base that has been transferred to the Beit Sahour municipality - which currently has funds allocated from international non-profit agencies to construct a children's hospital on the site.

Please watch this video (it's only 7 minutes long)




The settlers are coming to the park tonight. It is my intention to remain their and pray without ceasing that Ush Ghrab remain a public park for the people of Beit Sahour, and that a children's hospital, and not a settlement, is the future of this space.

The settlers have left their message on the walls in spray paint - in bright red letters. "Death to all Arabs," and "Arabs into the fire." They have come from Efrat - they are originally from Brooklyn. They have left the sign of the Kach painted on the wall.

The settlers saw the beautiful park that had been created by the people of Beit Sahour and the non-profit agencies here in Palestine. They decided that they wanted it. So now, like thieves, they are attempting to steal it. If they succeed, the hopes and dreams of the people who are looking forward toward a new children's hospital - the first of its kind in the West Bank - will be dashed.

There are hundreds of settlements in the West Bank. There is nothing like Ush Ghrab. Thankfully, we have been given the gospel for a time such as this - and the power of God's eternal ambassador, the Holy Spirit, will attend to all things - the praying people of Beit Sahour, myself included.