As some of you may have heard on the news…the final football matches ended with some bangs here in Kampala…and not good ones.
As the night ended reports tell us that there are close to 70 dead here as a result of 2 bombings on civilians watching the final match.
One of the places hit, the Ethiopian Village in kabalagala, is a place I have been frequenting often for football matches…They have good Ethiopian food and a huge projector screen for viewing. On any given evening there are close to 100 people there cheering for their favorites teams.
I had made plans to be there for the final match as well, as I had for the last 5 matches, but this past week I have had a head cold and so I thought being out until midnight again, in the cold air wouldn’t be good for my plan of getting better.
I cancelled my plans at 9:20….10 minutes before the match began, put on my PJs and crawled into bed.
Around midnight my neighbor called me…I was half awake and half asleep and so I didn’t understand what she was asking me…I just grunted a few times and went back to sleep…I guess I sounded delirious because around 1:30 she called me again…this time I heard the question…
“ARE YOU IN YOUR BED SLEEPING???”
Yeah…why? Was my response…
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay…and you were in your bed”
I thought her question was funny, but I figured she was good intentioned.
It wasn’t until 6am when another friend of mine called me and disrupted my sleep…
“ARE YOU ALIVE???”
Huh….
By this, the 3rd interruption, I decided something wasn’t quite right and so I started asking questions…
It was then that I realized what happened…
The news had broadcast that the Ethiopian village restaurant was bombed and that an American was killed…my friends all thought it might be me, since they knew that was my favorite place to watch the matches.
As I hung up the phone, fully awake with shock I could only thank God for my cold and for His watch care over me…without that cold I would have been in the middle of that restaurant with all the others who were innocently attacked.
They haven’t yet released the names of my fellow patrons; all I know is that the newspapers here are riddled with pictures of victims, dead in their chairs. I am thankful that so far, I haven’t recognized any of the dead.
Praise God for my sniffles and please be praying for the 70 families that have lost loved ones because of this terribly tragic event.
3 comments:
Lena I'm so glad you're safe! How amazing how God will use the littlest things, like a cold, to protect us. Love you!
As mom the first time your childs hand leaves yours without the Lord you wouldn't be able to let go, but with the Lord i have been able to open my hand and watch you walk through a kindergarten gate, a Jr. High yard, across the street and now across the world. The Lord loves you oh so much more than i do. He's not finished with you yet there my dearest daughter. May He use you up! In ministering to the people who call you Mirembe and love you as their own. I love you with all my heart. ma
There are so many verses that come to mind whenever i think of you my dear: I Thess. 5:17 (pray without ceasing!) Jeremiah 29:11 (for I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope) and Joshua 1:9 (have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous do not tremble nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you WHERESOEVER you Go!!). I praise God for His Word of peace in this troubled world that we sojourn in.
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