***UPDATE: Jon just posted yet another blog. This one is post-fast...

Darfur fast blog #6, reflections

I'm been very honored and humbled to join in the ongoing fast for those in Darfur who have no choice in the matter. In our global community, we cannot turn a deaf ear to those who are suffering. Today, I've passed the baton to Peter Gabriel, Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and the rest of you who are fasting alongside of those in Darfur. Thank you for filling in the gap, for praying and fasting and making your voice known to the media and to Washington.

In this brave new world of interconnectivity, we need each other more than ever. For all of my information about the situation in Darfur I have relied heavily on my friends who have been there. I have truly valued the information that many folks I've never met have offered to me over the course of the last few days. More than ever, we are the media. The media needs you to tell them that millions of refugees in Darfur is more important to you than whether Paris Hilton does this or that. Darfur was bombed again yesterday, why is that not making headlines?

We cannot be silent on the issue... this discourse is needed. It's a painful conversation, it's painful to see it on the news... I think the pain is what makes us turn to celebrity gossip or our own preoccupation. But we cannot run from pain.

I overheard a conversation a few years back. I was buying a greeting card in a bookstore downtown when I heard an old Morgan Freeman looking character talking to a pretty you blond girl. He had a low musical timbre from deep in his chest and his voice was clear, "Ask a weightlifter how he got so strong, he will tell you, 'I suffered.' Ask a runner how he got so fast, he will tell you 'I suffered.' Ask my people how they got so strong, they will tell you 'we have suffered.' "

At this point I am staring blankly ahead at the greeting card, trying to take in every word without looking like I'm eavesdropping. The older gentleman continued talking, "Suffering is vital to growth. For the best fruit you must cut branches off of a tree. To build muscles you must break them down. Sure, this is painful but needed. And yet we fear pain, we run from it. Do not run from suffering," he said, "Do not run from pain. Every great civilization that runs from suffering has begun it's demise. Look as far back as you want: Babylon, Greece, Rome, or the British Empire, you'll find that the reason for every great civilizations demise is rooted in it's attempt to cheat pain."

"And now," he said, "If we're not careful we will follow quickly down in our self-absorbed disregard towards suffering. We ignore the suffering on the street when we're in line for an over priced coffee. We ignore the suffering overseas for a cheap pair of sneakers. We try to cheat suffering with technology, with medicine, with economic bandages. But greatness does not come from ignorance of pain. Greatness comes from wrestling with pain, wresting with the injustices of the world. You cannot cheat death. Suffering will find you. Pain will find you. Death will find you. Do not run from suffering, how else could character form?"

"Yes, suffering forms character, suffering forms patience, suffering forms perseverance, joy, grace- all these beautiful parts of a human soul that cannot come into being any other way in this life. No, no- you see suffering is not the enemy. Sure it hurts. It hurts a lot sometimes. But so does giving birth. So does playing football. So does growing up. In this life, my friend, do not run from suffering. You'll be running from yourself."

For more info on Jon Foreman, visit the JFH Artists Database.