In the Presence of My Enemies

Satisfactory read about a missionary couple kidnapped and held for ransom in the Philippines for over a year. The flashbacks were distracting from the survival story, which was actually interesting.

The author and her husband, along with a group of fellow tourists staying at a beach resort, were kidnapped by Muslim extremists active on an island in the Philippines during 2001, the year 9/11 happened. That group of Muslim extremists have very similar faith with Al Quaida and expressed admiration of bin Laden to the hostages. Most of the author's fellow hostages were released after their family paid ransom for them. The author and her husband belonged to a missionary group with a policy against paying ransom. The U.S. also had the policy not to pay ransom to terrorists for kidnapped citizens (which I personally think is the right thing to do. Paying ransom just encourages terrorists to kidnap more American citizens every time they show more want money. It puts more people at risk.) So the couple traveled with the terrorists in the island's woodlands hiding from military every day. They went through over a dozen gun raids by the Philippine military, until one raid finally shot the author's husband dead and the author wounded. Then they were abandoned by the terrorists and the author was rescued.

The author mostly wrote about their plight living with the terrorists, the fellow hostages she befriended, and how she and her husband encouraged one another in their Christian faith. She provided intricate details. You get to know all about what she did every week of her capture. She witnessed a lot of wrongful things, in the terrorists way of thinking and behavior, in the Philippine military and justice system, in the U.S.'s failure to help them..... She pointed them out, but was kind of resigned to them. She was also resigned to her husband's death. After her husband passed away, she didn't fall into a depressed or angry state, but focused on enjoying her children and putting the donations she received into a nonprofit that supported evangelizing Muslims and tribal people. show less

To tell you the truth I didn't know much about what happened to the Burnhams when it was actually happening. I did know that they had been kidnapped but that was about all. I really wasn't expecting much from the book when I started to listen. I was quickly caught up in the drama and was on the edge of my seat through much of the book.

The narrator Pam Ward did an excellent job. She read the book as if she was the one who had wrote it.

Gracia Burnham writes with an honesty and was very straight forward about what happened to her and her husband. She is very clear that the captors where the bad guys here even though her husband was killed during the rescue. She was also very clear that she still needed to pray for her captors as they are show more people too. She brought each captors forward as a unique personality and each with good and bad qualities. She also explained how they saw their particular brand of Islam and the contradictions with it.

I felt a connection with the family especially when she talked about her daughter Mindy. That's my name. And then she said that Mindy's birthday was Oct. 17th. That's my birthday too!! Although we are a couple decades apart in age this connection made me really stop and think of how I would have felt if my parents had been in that situation (although I am a PK not an MK).

This story also made me stop and think of how I would have reacted if I had been in the situation. Gracia was very honest in her feelings. She told honestly how she was depressed. How she went through guilt as it was her idea to go to the resort where they were taken. The whole story wasn't tied up in a nice little bow.

I would recommend this book to everyone. Even if biographies aren't you cup of tea this is definetly worth the time.
I received this through christianaudio.com's reviewer program and received no money. show less

Toward the end of the book, the author made excuses for God, explaining why He was unable to save her husband instead of allowing a biblical perspective to influence her thinking. God saved Peter from Herod's sword, but did not save Stephen from being stoned. She missed an opportunity to declare that the Gospel is so glorious and our God so great that people will risk their lives to tell others so that they too may know the one true God.

Overall this was a good read. Tells of the harrowing story of Martin and Gracia Burnham's kidnapping in the jungles of The Philippines by the Abu Sayaaf, an al Quaeda terrorist cell. Told from the perspective of Gracia Burnham who survived the hostage-for-ransom ordeal. Through all the tough times the Burnhams kept their faith and relied on God's daily provisions. On numerous occasions their lives were in limbo in firefights between the Abu Sayaaf and the Philippine Army. Gracia tells of her many emotional struggles and lack of privacy and inconveniences. She relied heavily on her husbands strength to get her through this ordeal. And, eventually she did make it, while her husband did not.

Although the story is intriguing, the story show more seemed to run on at many times. A lot of repetitive narrative that could have been easily compressed by at least 60-75 pages. Nevertheless, this a great story of persistence and faith with a joyful reunion in the end. If you liked, "Through Gates of Splendor" by Elisabeth Elliot you will also like this one. The stories are eerily similar in many ways. show less

Autobiography of a Christian woman and her husband who spent a year as prisoners to a Muslim extremist group in the jungles of of the Philippines. After a year and 11 days, she is rescued and her husband is dead. Her story is raw and God is so good. It was very encouraging to read.

This book has lots of christian refference and scripture in it, as an agnostic I was worried about how I would follow it. Didn't have much problem and was kept gripped by the events.

Good read for sure. I don't recall much of this as it happened then, even though I live in Kansas. September 11 had pulled everyone's attention I guess.

Pick it up, it is worth a couple of evenings.

Andy