When Christ calls us to put His love above our lives, His people above our comfort.

I'm willing to bet that everyone who reads this will know what happened on September 11, 2001, but what people don't tend to realize is how much other places in the world live under constant terrorist threats. Reality, it seems, is not very favorable to those who are aware of the world.

On 11 July 2010, two bombs went off in Kampala, Uganda. 72 people were killed. My mom and I were unaware of what had happened; we were in Paris, on our last couple of days wrapping up a 5 week trip in Western Europe. When we went down for breakfast, the French news reported the bombings only a few hours after they happened. We could barely understand what was being said, but the pictures of torn apart bodies with the flashing headline "Ouganda" made it pretty clear.

Terrorist threats were not an uncommon part of life in Uganda. We always were aware that they were possible. I remember when I got my first "adult" passport and registered myself with the embassy. I received emails from the Warden almost constantly about terrorist attacks.

Now, almost four years later, bombs have rocked Nairobi and Mombasa in multiple attacks. Find more information at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27443474

The US embassy in Uganda has put out a warning that they have intelligence of a planned attack directly aimed at churches that ex-patriots frequent. Here we go again...

In other news, a woman in Sudan has been sentenced to death and 100 lashes because she married a Christian man and will not recant her faith. Read the story at: 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/15/world/africa/sudan-christian-woman-apostasy/

Life is never dull, that is certain. I am also glad to be removed from some of the drama of the terrorist threats. However, it still hurts my soul to see the people that I love coming under threat. This is serious, and it concerns me. 

But work must not stop, and life must not stand still. Christians need to continue worshipping, because that is where strength is found. We will not back down, and we were promised this kind of persecution. While tourists evacuate, the time for missionaries and development workers to stay and stand firm is now. This is the world we were placed in, this is the world we were called to serve, this is the world in which we need to act as Christ would.

Let us stand strong and face the lives that Christ has called us to.