A Special Post From Our Staff in North Africa
On November 7th, all of North Africa will be celebrating what they call L'Eid Kabir, or The Big holiday. This is the holiday that represents when Abraham went to sacrifice his son, but God provided a lamb in the place of his son. As Christians, this story has huge significance as it is a foretelling of Christ being given in our place as the blood sacrifice for our sins. To the billions of Muslims around the world it is only a celebration of Abraham's faith and the saving of their lineage. (They say the son mentioned in the story is Ishmael, while we believe it to be Isaac.)
During the celebration, every family will get together and sacrifice a sheep. Even now the market places are becoming full with potential sheep to buy for the slaughtering. It is usually the Father or man of the household who slits the throat, then everyone waits for the blood to drain before continuing to skin and gut the animal.
Right away they take out the liver, lungs, heart, and pancreas, wrap them in the animals fat and cook them on a small grill. The family will share in this small feast of organs for lunch and continue to talk and relax until evening when they have couscous usually with the should of the lamb.
Please pray for our friends [and all Muslims] during this time. That they will see the blood shed by the lamb as something more than a traditional holiday. Pray for us, that we may be given more opportunities to share our faith in the Ultimate Sacrifice during this time of year.
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