Living the Truth in Lebanon

An update from Juan Solano, our SGC Commissioned Pastor in Lebanon. Since the war broke out we’ve been keeping in regular contact, and just recently he wrote Mark Prater and I with the following. I asked him if I could share it here… I trust it encourages you as it did us. How kind of the Lord that we get to serve alongside brothers and sisters like this…

Dear Brothers,

First of all, both Lau and I would like to thank you for the great love you have shown to us by following up with us in this situation and being willing to support us in any circumstance. Every message has been a great encouragement to us and every prayer has contributed to our confidence in the Lord. We truly thank God for each one of you as friends, but also for the extended family of Sovereign Grace.

After Hezbollah became involved in the current war, Action — the missionary organization that we work with— recommended that we consider leaving Lebanon while the situation stabilized, although they understood if we chose to stay. We obviously took this recommendation seriously and spent several days considering what was best for our family at this time and praying about it. In the end, we decided to stay.

We are aware that the war is escalating significantly fast, both in the region and here in Lebanon, and we understand the risks of remaining in the country. But we are also convinced that God wants us here at this moment. Our children are still young and although we speak openly with them about the war — without giving details — they still do not understand what is happening. My wife and I are enjoying peace and even joy that only the Lord can give. We do not feel any kind of fear, anxiety, or stress.

One of the reasons we decided to stay is that over the past month we have been able to connect with some families in our area, and we have been intentional about growing those relationships. This past Saturday one of them asked me whether we were going to leave the country. My response was that we had come to live like them and that we wanted to be here to serve them because we love them. This man was extremely glad and told me he felt very loved by us. We see that there is greater value and purpose in staying at this moment.

The other reason is that we want to live out the theology that our lips profess. We want to live for Him who died for us (2 Cor 5:15). We know that our days have been determined by the Lord regardless of where we are (Psalm 90). We long to live for Christ and at this moment we do not fear death (Philippians 1:21). We are convinced that our souls belong to God and that we will never be separated from him (Romans 8).

For many years we have preached these truths in our church, and now is the time to live them and model them ourselves. We trust that God will give us grace as we depend on Him. And we ask you to pray so that our faith may not fail. If we die here, rejoice that we will have reached the goal. But until that happens, we will continue moving forward with the objectives we have.

Jude 24-25.

For Christ,
Juanjo and Lau