You need to smell abuse...

I've never heard of the band Bluetree, and I'm not even that fond of the song, "God of this City", but reading this account of their recent trip to Myanmar really piqued my interest. I was especially moved by his statement, "You need to smell abuse, you need to smell injustice firsthand. You need to smell the smell of the villages and get it into your body." The story particularly hit me because our student ministry has been partnering with World Relief to serve several Karen refugees who've been resettled into our neighborhood in the past year. On top of that, when I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand this past January, we visited a Karen village where these refugees live in the mountains and come down to ply their trade and share their culture - all for the chance to make some money to live on. Given the backdrop of the band's heart for injustice and what they saw in Thailand and Myanmar, I think the song takes on some new meaning:

You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City



Given the state of unrest and violence in Bangkok, and the continuing oppression and genocide in Myanmar, won't you take a few minutes to pray to the God of those cities?