This week, on Palm Sunday, we will be taking part in a World Vision “Refugee Sunday” in which we will be discussing the Syrian refugee crisis and learning ways that we can help, both those that are fleeing for their lives and the churches in the Middle East that are ministering to their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. This crisis, like all others, is not first political, soical, cultural or even religious, it is a spiritual crisis. When Jesus was still a child, He parents, Joseph and Mary, had to flee to Egypt to find safety and protection from an evil, blood thirsty king. The heart of God is always for the “least of these”. He repeatedly told Israel to be kind to the alien becuase they had once been aliens and to be merciful to slave becuase they had once been slaves. Jesus told His disciples that as much as they did for “the least of these” they had done until Him and one of the key commands that the first church in Jerusalem gave to the new Gentile churches was that they “remember the poor”. Our prayer is that we will not close a blind eye to those that we do not daily see, that we would not believe the lies of the world that tell us our responsibility is to those near us at the cost of those far from us, but that we would understand God’s heart, walk in God’s character and join in God’s ways. Prayerfully join us next week as we look closer at the depth of this crisis, not how it affects us but how we can affect the lives of others, and as we ask God to lead us to pray consistently, give generously and believe confidently that God is present in the midst of this crisis and that He is working to bring many Syrian sons and daughters to glory.