God of this City

This past Monday, March 7th, was the first day of screening for Sierra Leone. It was located at the national stadium and we had some major plans to have an awesome day. Unfortunately our plans did not work out.

 

When we arrived at 4am there were already over 2000 people lined up and sleeping in the streets waiting to be screened. That number only increased as the morning wore on. By 10am we had over 10,000 people waiting to be screened. Unfortunately, due to many different reasons, the crowd became more and more unruly and desperate. The gate to the stadium held them out and kept us safe inside until, at about 10:30am, the gate broke open and the masses began pouring into the screening location. The people at the front of the gate were pushed so hard that they began to fall and were then trampled by the people behind them. Unfortunately, even when these people saw what was going on they couldn't do anything to stop because of the thousands of people outside, all surging toward this one opening. After what felt like forever, we (along with help from the local police) were able to get the gate closed and could then attended to the people who had been crushed by the crowd. There were 12 injuries and one death due to that mob. In over 25 years and 5 times in Sierra Leone, nothing like this has ever happened during a screening before. Sadly there was nothing we as an organization could have done to predict that this would happen. I also personally believe that there is some major spiritual warfare going on over Sierra Leone, and specifically Freetown.

 

The positives are that we were able to screen many people and they now have surgery dates. Also this situation could have been 1000x worse and it is only because of the grace of the Lord that more people were not injured. Also not one Mercy Shipper was injured which was a miracle in itself! God is good all the time and even in the midst of this situation I have complete confidence in His perfect plan. I don't believe it was His will for these people to be hurt or for that man to die, but I do believe that He can bring completely amazing and wonderful things from this that might not have happened otherwise.

 

Please be in some serious prayer for the Mercy Ships leadership as they are having meeting after meeting and trying to regroup to assess what went wrong. They are also trying to decide how we can do things differently so that we can continue screenings here in Sierra Leone. Please also pray for this country as there is a battle going on for the people of Sierra Leone. I am so very thankful that the Lord placed me exactly where I am and at this exact time. I know that this is where He wants me and that this is what He would have me do. I am looking forward to the future and am so excited to see what good the Lord will bring, even out of this tragic situation.

 

For the official press release see the below link:

 

http://navigator.mercyships.org/display/EOPublic/2011/03/07/Important+Message+re.+Sierra+Leone+Screening

 

Thank you for your prayers!

Below are the lyrics to "God of This City". Perfect fit for this situation. 

God of this City 

You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

He is the Light in this darkness and He is the hope to the hopeless. He has not left us nor will He ever forsake us. I praise the Lord for this promise to us here in Sierra Leone. For the fact that greater things WILL come to this city.