This is from the August 17, 2009, edition of Mennonite Weekly Review:
Family Safe after Bomb Explodes Near Apartment
Burgos, Spain - A Mennonite woman and her baby daughter escaped injury after a car bomb exploded at the police barracks outside their apartment.
Sixty people were injured in the bombing, which a Spanish official said was probably orchestrated by the ETA, a fringe movement of Basque separatists. Another bomb exploded the next day in Mallorca, where two Civil Guards, one from the city of Burgos, were killed.
Maria Jose (Chus) Garcia, a member of Burgos Mennonite Church, was asleep in her bed when the bomb exploded. Her infant daughter, Angela, was in bed with her. Her husband, Alejandro Mesa Gutierrez, was working.
Connie Byler, a Mennonite Mission Network worker in Spain, reported that Garcia took Angela into her bed about 3:45 a.m. because the baby was crying. The bomb exploded at 4 a.m.
Garcia next awoke to find a door on her bed and a neighbor yelling for everyone to leave the building in case of another explosion. The apartment's walls, windows, and doors were gone, and there were piles of broken glass in Angela's empty crib. It was determined that the car bomb had been parked 15 yards from the family's back window.
Burgos Mennonite Church members are thanking God that the family was unhurt and that baby Angela was not in her crib at the time of the blast, even as they mourn with the families of the men who were killed.
"We laugh with those that laugh and cry with those that cry," Byler said. "We trust this experience will lead to many, many conversations to share the goodness of God with others."
Wow! This reminded me of my own experience in Israel when a phone call and an invitation from a friend changed my plans and kept me away from the market I was planning to shop in on the morning that a bomb exploded there. I'm sure there are countless times when God arranges and rearranges the circumstances of our lives to keep us safe. Most of the time, we're not even aware of it. Once in a while, we are.
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
~ Psalm 91:7
4 comments:
Thanks my friend!! and the new look is beautiful as always...
stacey
Wow, that truly is amazing! I have wondered the same thing many times when things don't quite turn out. A few months ago, the children and I were at Wal*Mart, and it took longer than usual to get everybody buckled up and loaded. I knew there was a train due though, and I wanted to leave before we would be stuck waiting for it. The Lord slowed me down, because a teenager laid him self on the tracks at the crossing and committed suicide. How thankful I was that my children didn't see it, as we would have, had we left when I wanted to!
Even this past week, we were at the flea market, and I decided spur of the moment to stop in a thrift store. I felt very strongly I needed to and after we came out empty handed, I am certain the Lord caused us to stop, to keep us out of harms way. It's just one of those things that you KNOW.
It's such a reiteration of how mush He truly watches
over us!
Our God is AMAZING!! I remember my own experience of nearly missing a traumatic and potentially deadly situation. I was helping babysit a four year little boy who wouldn't eat his green vegetables. We explained to the four year old we wouldn't be going to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory at Trolley Square (Salt Lake City) until he finished two more bits of his vegetables. This child (bless his heart) absolutely refused and stubbornly sat in his chair.
If he had finished his vegetables when he was suppose to then we all would have been at Trolley Square when a young man opened fire on the crowd shopping. He killed several before an off duty officer took him down. I remember seeing on the news that one of the victims was killed right outside the doors of the doors of the chocolate factory. And though I mourned for all those effected by the tragedy I couldn't help but feel immensely grateful that me, my friend and that little boy were spared the trama.
By the way, I don't know if Stacey (from the above comment) has ever introduced herself, but she and I attended church together in Salt Lake City. She's a beautiful person and a terrific friend :) Much like the women I attend church with here in Harrisonburg!
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