Category Archives: Countries

by Anthony Baker | August 19, 2012 · 12:05 am

Madagascar

More than a Movie

I get a real kick out of the characters from the Madagascar movies. By far, my favorite are the penguins. Their can-do spirit; their ability to laugh in the face of danger; and their ability to use monkeys to piece together a crashed DC-7 and make it fly – well, they’re genius.

The third edition of the Madagascar movies (Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted) featured all the animals buying a circus to sneak across Europe. My favorite part, of course, was the part where Marty the zebra, made up like a clown, sang the “Circus Afro” song. I want it for a ring-tone!

But Madagascar is more than a movie; it’s a country. And Madagascar is populated with talking people, not talking animals (as far as I know).

The Country

Madagascar is a beautiful, isolated island nation just off the southeast of Africa. Actually, Madagascar is the 4th largest island in the world.

Even though I have never seen any talking animals, there may be some in Madagascar. Believe it or not, nearly 80% of the plants and animals found in Madagascar are found nowhere else in the world!

The People

But Madagascar is more than a movie or rare plants and animals. Madagascar is a place with nearly 21 million people, 69% of which live on less than $2 dollars a day.

It is a place with people who practice the veneration of ancestors, even digging them up for periodic reunions with family. But thanks to the London Missionary Society, 20% of the people are Protestant (while another 20% are Catholic).

It is amazing to me that anyone from Madagascar has viewed this blog. But it is even more amazing that Jesus knows and loves every person there. And because He loves them, we should love them, too.

Pray for the people of Madagascar. Pray that more may find the hope that can be found in One who was not dug up from the dead, but raised from the dead to bring them life.

Madagascar amongst the Baobab Trees (digtanya.com)

2 Comments

Filed under Countries, Uncategorized

Tagged as Africa, Circus, List of characters in Madagascar (franchise), London Missionary Society, Madagascar, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

by Anthony Baker | August 5, 2012 · 12:23 am

Estonia

Hard Life

This week I want you to pray for one of the most prosperous and free countries in Europe, Estonia. If you are not familiar with this country, then go to a world map, find the Baltic Sea, and then look south of Finland and east of Sweden. There it will be, a small part of the former Soviet Union.

And speaking of former stuff, I was reading the history of Estonia on Wikipedia and found myself cringing and wincing. Those poor people went through some horrible, horrible years. Just in the last century, wars, occupations, and deportations killed off way over 25% of the population. In WWII Estonia suffered tremendously, first under the Soviets, then the Nazis. After the war things didn’t get much better.

Good Life

The great thing is that Estonia is now very prosperous. The national debt is only 6%. Estonia is considered a high-income economy by the World Bank. The country is ranked 16th in the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom, with the freest economy in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (see Wikipedia – which is well-sourced).

Godless Life

But the sad thing is that the great majority of Estonians are unbelievers. According to studies quoted by the Wikipedia article, on 16% of Estonians believe an ANY god, much less the God of the Bible. The largest religious group is Evangelical Lutheranism (14.6%).

Pray for Estonia, and pray for this blog. Thanks to the internet there are some people coming to The Recovering Legalist and hopefully reading about a God that love them and wants to offer them hope.

A Prayer

Lord, I am sure you are aware of the people of Estonia. I am sure you have sheep of your pasture in that little country. But dear Father, please send workers into that field who can bring more sheep into your Fold. May the Estonians see that a new life in You is nothing like the cold, lifeless religion so many hate. May they see Jesus.

Little Estonia Uber Alles (forbes.com)
Estonia sees another Nazi reunion (english.ruvr.ru)
Moscow outraged at neo-Nazi campaign in Estonia (english.ruvr.ru)
War survivor smuggled refugees to safety (shaan.typepad.com)

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Filed under Countries, Witnessing

Tagged as former soviet union, politics

by Anthony Baker | July 22, 2012 · 12:05 am

Give Me Samoa

Population

As best I can tell, I have gotten only one visit from someone in Samoa. But if I were to compare Samoa to the United States, then person-for-person, that one visit would be worth at least 20,000 views in the States! Of course Samoa is tiny compared to the U.S.A., and only has a population of 196,000. But who’s counting?

Location

Located half-way between New Zealand and Hawaii, this little island country is a literal paradise. Up until now the only thing that I could associate with Samoa was big wrestlers and Girl Scout cookies. But now that I have seen the pictures…and read the history…I want to go there! You can keep the cookies.

Make My Reservation

The thing that most amazes me is this little country’s blatant, uncompromising, unashamed acceptance of Christianity in daily life. Unlike so many in the rest of the Western world, Samoa makes no apology for the faith that plays a major role in its society. As a matter of fact, just check out this quote from the Samoa Tourism Authority:

Christianity has been one of the few western influences that has been accepted into Fa’a Samoa.

John Williams from the London Missionary Society arrived in Savaii in 1830 with eight Tahitian and Rarotongan teachers to spread the word. Today the motto on Samoa’s crest reads, Fa’avae I Le Atua Samoa – Samoa is founded on God, and found in every village are churches of various denominations. Samoans are devote Christians and Sunday is a day of worship and spending time with family and no physical work is done (emphasis added).

I may be going out on a limb, here, but my guess is that the ACLU isn’t very big in Samoa. Can you imagine if something like that was written on an official American tourism website? You have to admire these people.

Read Samoa

I could go on and on repeating what I have read, but why don’t you check it out for yourself. Go read about the Samoan Way. Read about a people who aren’t ashamed of their heritage. Read about a little country that could be an example for the rest of us to follow. Ever wonder how to deal with gang crime, illiteracy, the break down of the family? Samoa might have some suggestions.

A Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you for the people of Samoa. Thank you for their unashamed proclamation of faith in Christ. Thank you for the missionaries who bravely went to share with these people back in the 1830’s. Thank you that there is still a place in the world where family is not defined and re-defined on a whim.

God, bless this little nation. Keep them safe. May they grow in grace and be a beacon of light in a dark world. – Amen.

Samoa’s 50th Independence Day (maryannepale.com)

Lesotho

Recognizing the World

It is almost too incredible to believe, yet it is taken for granted by almost every blogger. We rarely think of it, and when we do it is normally just another statistic. It is something that just a few short years ago would have been unthinkable. What is it that we take for granted?

The ability to reach the world.

Yesterday I shared with my wife the names of countries that have viewed my The Recovering Legalist. Believe it or not, the last count was 81! Isn’t that amazing? Many of the countries had names we had never heard before. Most are countries I will never see in my lifetime.

Well, that got me to thinking, why not take Sunday as an opportunity to recognize and thank each country for visiting? At the same time, why not use it as an opportunity to say a pray for the people in that country? I don’t know about you, but sometimes I tend to forget that I am not the only person in the world.

Lesotho

The green dot is Lesotho.

Lesotho will be our first country. I have to say that until this week I had never heard of this little land-locked country right in the middle of South Africa.

99.7% of the population in Lesotho is Sotho. Their official languages are Sesotho and English.

The predominant religion in Lesotho is Christianity (80%). I am not sure how they practice Christianity, however. The statistic, nevertheless, is interesting.

The thing that stood out to me the most, however, is that (according to the Central Intelligence Agency) in a country with a population of just under 2 million, at least 26% of the people have HIV (Aids)! That is incredibly tragic, don’t you think? It is heartbreaking to think that 1 in 4 people in a country have an incurable, deadly disease.

Thank You and Prayer

So, thank you so much, Lesotho, for visiting this blog. I hope you will visit again. In the meantime, Let me lead in a prayer for your people.

Dear Lord God, thank you for sending your Son, Jesus Christ, to bring hope to a hurting and dying world. Without Him we would be lost without hope, both in this world and the one to come. Lord, the people of Lesotho need to be reminded that you love them, and though they be small in number, they are not forgotten.

Lord, we pray for the monarchy and government of the Kingdom of Lesotho. May they seek you and your Wisdom, not the wisdom of man. Raise up future generations who will lead their people with integrity and righteousness.

Lesotho prime minister’s party wins vote (sacbee.com)
Lesotho: Food security goes from bad to worse (crofsblogs.typepad.com)
Lesotho – Kingdom in the Sky (turcanin.wordpress.com)
Lesotho: Veteran Opposition Leader to Be Premier (abcnews.go.com)
London 2012: Lesotho’s athletes hope Olympics will put kingdom on the map (guardian.co.uk)

Category Archives: Countries