I arrived home in Sarajevo late Saturday evening after an exhausting eighteen hour trip from Romania. But I’m very glad to be home.
Yesterday afternoon the Evangelical churches of Sarajevo sponsored a joint service together. (We do that several times per year. ) The congregation was smaller again, with probably about two hundred in attendance. But I came away hopeful for the first time in several years. A good chunk of our time was spent in prayer, beginning with partners, then in small groups, and finally with the whole church praying about such things as unity, leadership, evangelism, and strategy for reaching the nation.
One very sad note was added to the meeting when we prayed for the victims of the early morning fire in a downtown Sarajevo orphanage. I doubt it’ll get much coverage in the western media, but our last is that thirteen babies and infants have died with another ten or so hospitalized.
I wish I could understand why God would allow a tragedy like this to snuff out the lives of Sarajevo’s only innocent people. But along with the Virginia Tech massacre, and nearly two hundred civilians perishing in suicide bombings in one day in Iraq, I just can’t. So much of the world grieves me these days. I wish the tares were not growing alongside the kingdom that is here, and “not-yet.” But the promise remains strong in my heart that one day the Father of Jesus will remove from the good wheat all that offends.
Dispatches from the Shadowlands 
I know understanding is impossible. God’s ways are not our ways. However, I found my 13 year old son’s comments on the VT massacre to be very profound and challenging.
“The Virginia Tech Massacre was a tragedy beyond belief. Coming home from school to find out that 32 people were killed and the gunman. When i learned this i was shocked and confused. How could this happen at VT. How could one person kill 32 people in 2 hours. I pondered about this horrific event and wondering why this had occurred. I couldnt believe that one person’s anger and rage could kill and ruin so many lives.
Going through the details and playing over and over again what might of happened, the truth then came to me. I realized it was a wake up call to me and my fellow siblings in Christ. I didnt know how many people that was killed, if they were saved or not. I was sadden that because of one man’s rage, that most of the victims were sent to hell. The wake up call is that our lives could end at any moment and so could anyone’s, and if they dont know christ and a massacre like this occurs, they too will suffer the punishment like the VT massacre victims that didnt know christ. We need to witness to people like this so we may be able to save some from hell. Matthew 28:19-20, ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the holy spirit, and teaching thim to obey everything i have commanded you. And surely i am with you always, to the very end of the age.’
We need to remember that verse and do exactly what it says to save more people from hell and possibly from more of these attacks accruing. I hope that you understand why god allowed so many deaths in the VT massacre, because to me it was a wake up call and that i need to be a good example and try to reach more people. I encourage (you) to do the same …”
The question is, what will it really take for all the good men to really wake up?
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Matt 18:11, “Jesus came to save that which was lost.”….we all have the responsibilit to be a light in this world to do “what Jesus would do,” well said above.
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Matt 18:11, “Jesus came to save that which was lost.”….we all have the responsibility to be a light in this world to do “what Jesus would do,” well said above.
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