In a dramatic presentation of her work, the deputy speaker of the British House of Lords spoke of the violence of ethnic cleansing in the Sudan, but said she witnessed worship in persecuted churches that was far more joyful and joyous than she had experienced in comfortable affluent churches in the West. Cox has become a "voice for the voiceless" and has visited the Sudan 28 times.

Those who suffer tell her, "Call us a displaced people, not misplaced. The life of our [persecuted] people is not a misery it is a mystery. What we see as temporal they see as eternal."

In North Korea, one of the worlds most sealed totalitarian society's Cox has watched as children died in front of their eyes. She has seen Christians sizzled with irons, and she recently watched three Christians die. On one of her visits she found a protestant church with a small seminary. "I took bibles and as a politician I give Bibles as a token of respect to fellow parliamentarians in North Korea in the hope that the Holy Spirit can use them."

In North Korea the political leaders say, "We know you are Christians." These are very dangerous days for North Korea and the few Christians she meets ask Christians in the West to pray for us.

In the Sudan she has seen the manipulation of aid and enforced slavery. "To get food they would have to convert to Islam. They won't do it. Slave traders come along and steal children and force them to convert. One young man who had been bought back from the slavers told her, "Slavery is a very bad thing." He had seen death and persecution. Cox is writing a book on slavery. It is mission unaccomplished. She also visited 'no go' areas in the Sudan and risked her life more than once in pursuit of the truth.

In the Western Upper Nile she met a catechist for 11,000 people who had started an estimated seven new churches. "Islam is spending $229 million dollars of Middle East oil money to fund Islamic schools, clinics and more. They are working hard to destroy Christianity."

In Nigeria, Cox said militant Islam is active in the northern half of the country where Shari'a law is found in 12 states. Islam denies fundamental freedoms. International Jihad warriors are so active with sophisticated weapons that local police cannot cope with them and flee when they know they are coming. Christians told her, "We don't believe in miracles, we rely on them." Cox says she fears that changing the secular constitution to an Islamic constitution will bring fierce persecution down on Christians.

In Indonesia, 220 million Indonesianshave an honorable record of religious tolerance. "But Christianity is losing ground in many parts of the world. The stark reality is that the church is losing ground in parts of Africa, Asia, in the United Kingdom and USA. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Without a vision, things fall apart," she said.

"Love and prayer without action is dead," said Cox. "I came, I saw, I heard, touched and I am enriched." Today Cox is remembered as the one who touched the hearts of people.

The Rev. Dr. David Short, St. John's, Shaughnessy, Vancouver, BC rector of the largest parish in the Anglican Church of Canada said Christians today must face many trials before we enter the Kingdom of God. "When it comes time to choose human authority and the authority of Christ we must choose Christ. We must be obedient to the will of God over human power and will. God's sovereignty - the arm of God - is no shorter today than when it was first prayed.

Short called on his hearers not to be ashamed of the gospel, to be bold, less timid. Jesus Christ is still the cornerstone, our only hope and salvation. When we stand before him one day we will not be asked how orthodox were you, but were you faithful."

World renowned Evangelical quadriplegic Joni Eareckson Tada author, artist and disability advocate told the story of her life following a swimming accident that left her crippled and in a wheelchair in 1967.

In her darkest days she cried out to the Lord, "I can't live like this. My only anchor was the word of God."

Tada said her freedom came when she became obedient and learned to give thanks. "Life began to change. To embrace life is to embrace Christ," she said.

Raised in the Reformed Episcopal Church and with a brother who is a priest in the REC, Tada said during her time of immediate suffering that the Book of Common Prayer came back to her. She began to sing hymns. She prayed to be healed. "I wanted to be healed like the man by the pool of Bethesda." Years later when she actually got to Jerusalem and saw the pool she prayed a different prayer, "Thank you God for not healing me. I was so short-sighted. Now 38 years later I am much wiser."

Tada regards her afflictions as "featherweight and nothing compared to the joy of knowing Jesus."Suffering has been the sheep dog and jack hammer and chisel of my life."

Tada admits it has been a difficult road to hoe. "I never got me healed, but suffering pushed me deeper into God's word. No I was not to be physically healed.' She said she sinned by allowing bitterness into her life. "I lost weight, I had surgery, infections, but in my distress I called to the lord."

She had to learn to reckon herself dead to bitterness, resentment and dead to sins. God owed me some time off, but that was a false note, she said. She started quoting the Prayer Book while lying on her back. "The flesh does not want to rejoice in suffering. I saw my disability only getting harder. Suffering chiseled and chipped away at my self reliance and self assurance. Suffering is the sheep dog of our lives driving us to the cross where we are not inclined to go. It should be our food and drink."

"My cross is not my wheelchair; my cross is my complaining about my wheelchair. If we want to be like him in his death, it is to daily take up our cross. When you are down for the count then we can be better bonded to the Savior. We meet joy in God's terms."

Tada said we all would like to eradicate suffering, give it ibuprofen instead of embracing God. "Misery loves company but joy craves a crowd. God is heaven bent on gathering a crowd, an inheritance. We are all richer when we acknowledge our poverty. In this culture of comfort we are too prone to forget the disabled. Suffering pushes us to the cross, your affliction becomes your honest to goodness asset."

Tada said there was a need for 18 million wheelchairs around the world. She has been a disability advocate which led to a presidential appointment to the National Council on Disability for three and a half years, during which time the Americans with Disabilities Act became law. She is the author of 30 books and has three honorary doctorates.

The Rev. Dr. Peter Moore, President of Anglican Relief and Development Foundation, the alternative funding source for the Episcopal Church's Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), said a series of grants totaling $2 million had been made over the last 14 months to Anglican projects to those who were suffering in the Global South.

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