Our
entire world had changed on September 11, 2001. Living in the relative safety
of northern Wisconsin, things like terrorist attacks were a distant tragedy to me until that day. I
prayed for the victims and the survivors and all of the affected families. I
cried that evening when I drove into our yard after work and saw that Nick and
Val had lowered our flag to half-mast. I called my friend in Minnesota just to
hear her voice. My brother-in-law had been in Washington that morning on his
way to the Pentagon. My prayers included a tearful thank-you that God had kept
my loved ones out of harm’s way.
Five
years after that, I felt safe in Africa. Except for the quilt-fetching incident
in the slums, I was confident nothing bad would personally happen to me or the
team. While we were in Kenya, however, just days before we were to leave, fourteen
suspected terrorists were arrested in the London airport. With the liquids they
planned to carry onto their planes, they hoped to construct bombs. Security
worldwide went on high alert.
It
was a final leap of faith. People with different morals, a different religion,
and a different code of living could declare their own personal war on
Europeans and Americans and Christians worldwide. They could threaten us and,
unfortunately, kill some of us, but that didn’t mean I had to live in fear. My
God was going to take care of me and my loved ones and the entire HEART team.
Our plane would touch down in Appleton, Wisconsin, and I would walk off with
nothing but the clothes on my back and God’s love in my heart.
This
is an excerpt from my first book, “A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven”. As I
prepare for my third trip to Kenya, I never fail to be amazed by God’s plan for
us all. Horrible things happen in this world, and this side of heaven, we will
never be able to understand why. But God will never leave us or forsake us.
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