In the Presence of My Enemies

Posted on 22 January 2017 by Gracia Burnham

Soon after September 11, the news media stepped up its coverage of the plight of Martin and Gracia Burnham, the missionary couple captured and held hostage in the Philippine jungle by terrorists with ties to Osama Bin Laden After a year of captivity, and a violent rescue that resulted in Martin s death, the world watched Gracia Burnham return home in June 2002 with a bullet wound in the leg and amazing composure.In this riveting personal account, Burnham tells the real story behind the news about their harrowing ordeal, about how it affected their relationship with each other and with God, about the terrorists who held them, about the actions of the U.S and Philippine governments, and about how they were affected by the prayers of thousands of Christians throughout the world. Free Download Books In the Presence of My Enemies by Gracia Burnham – kino-fada.fr I picked up this book after reading the story of a missionary kidnapping of 100 years ago, The Miss Stone Affair America s First Modern Hostage Crisis The central question at the heart of both crises is this Should a ransom be paid for a hostage s release It s a shame that this is the central theme of Gracia Burnham s book From the outset, she knew that her mission s policy was not to pay a ransom, as it might only encouragekidnappings and finance terrorism She mentions this in the fi I picked up this book after reading the story of a missionary kidnapping of 100 years ago, The Miss Stone Affair America s First Modern Hostage Crisis The central question at the heart of both crises is this Should a ransom be paid for a hostage s release It s a shame that this is the central theme of Gracia Burnham s book From the outset, she knew that her mis...A story about missionaries being captured, tortured and or killed is not new There are many missionaries who live this day in and day out, but it doesn t at all detract from the purpose of God s plan in why it happens The Burnham s story is incredible, butthan that is the conviction that set in as I read If all my life s luxuries were stripped away, everything I take for granted and everything I didn t even know I took for granted was stripped away, what kind of person would I be Would A story about missionaries being captured, tortured and or killed is not new There are many missionaries who live this day in and day out, but it doesn t at all detract from the purpose of God s plan in why it happens The Burnham s story is incredible, butthan that is the conviction that set in as I read If all my life s luxuries were stripped away, everything I take for granted and everything I didn t even know I took for granted was stripped away, what kind of person would I be Would I reflect Christ as I should, as I believe I do with all I have Or would the real m...I have quite a few reasons to like this book I grew up in the Philippines, and I had seen the Burnhams and stayed at Aritao where they worked My mom went to boarding school with Martin Burnham, and our family was actually evacuated from the Philippines due to threats from the terrorist groups in the book I followed their captivity with quite a bit of interest, and I felt brokenhearted for the family both during and after the events chronicled in their book.I also did PR for Dean Merrill, who I have quite a few reasons to like this book I grew up in the Philippines, and I had seen the Burnhams and stayed at Aritao where they worked My mom went to boarding school with Martin Burnham, and our family was actually evacuated from the Philippines due to threats from the terrorist groups in the book I followed their captivity with quite a bit of interest, and I felt brokenhearted for the family both during and after the events chronicled in their book.I also did PR for Dean Merrill, who co wrote the book with Gracia Burnham, and I found him to be one of the most thoughtful, reliable, and professional Christian authors I ever worked with.So, with the utmost respect for Gracia Burnham, and for co author Dean Merrill, I have to say that the book was a severe disappointment Instead of engaging me in the story and believe me, it is a great story the writing served to distance me from the ...true story of hostages taken by the Taliban it really is an amazing story wowThe story of the kidnapped Protestant Missionary Couple who were held captive on a Filippino Island for a year should be dynamite But a cloying pietism and a lack of theological depth manage to take a lot of the drama and potential out of this book Living in the Philippines when I read this, could have turned it into a page turning thriller for me but it was a damp squip Which is quite an achievement since there is ample scope for a fascinating story to be told with important discussions ab The story of the kidnapped Protestant Missionary Couple who were held captive on a Filippino Island for a year should be dynamite But a cloying pietism and a lack of theological depth manage to take a lot of the drama and potential out of this book Living in the Philippines when I read this, could have turned it into a page turning thriller for me but it was a damp squip Which is quite an achievement since there is ampl...I found this book as a freebie for my Kindle and thought it would be interesting I was partially wrong I was riveted When Gracia and Martin Burnham were going through this experience kidnapping by an Islamic terrorist sect , I was graduating from college and starting veterinary school I was blissfully unaware of what they were going through The only real exposure I had to the world outside of my small corner was the tragedy of 9 11 01 where I joined in grieving with the rest of America and I found this book as a freebie for my Kindle and thought it would be interesting I was partially wrong I was riveted When Gracia and Martin Burnham were going through this experience kidnapping by an Islamic terrorist sect , I was graduating from college and starting veterinary school I was blissfully unaware of what they were going through The only real exposure I had to the world outside of my small corner was the tragedy of 9 11 01 where I joined in grieving with the rest of America and much of the world Even though I knew intellectually that there were people around the world that saw that day as a victory, the portion of the text that described what the Burnhams went through that day put it in a completely knew perspective for me I can t imagine people cheering and being excited over that ...Excellent book My wife read it to me while we traveled and it was hard to stop reading when we arrived You won t have trouble staying motivated to keep reading At the end when they are rescued you will be crying A lot.I also appreciated her honestly throughout she didn t present herself as a hero or perfectly Christlike all the time You got an honest window into her struggles and the challenges she grappled with.My only complaint ...In the Presence of My Enemies is Gracia Burnham s heatbreaking yet uplifting memoir reflecting on her time as an Abu Sayyaf hostage in the Philippines in the early 2000 s Gracia and her husband Martin were taken as hostages in the name of jihad As Americans, they are kept as the prime bargaining chip in ransom negotiations between the Islamic extreamist k...This is a compelling true story Martin and Gracia Burnham were from the KC area so we were constantly paying attention to their plight while they were gone I got to hear Gracia speak after she published her book and got my book autographed.This book was hard to read I knew the story and how it ended and what happened to Gracia s family But the story was well written and it made me think about my faith and how I would react.

English
22 January 2017

Gracia Burnham