It was early Thursday morning on April 2nd, just before dawn. Most of the students at Garissa University College in Kenya, Africa, were asleep. The stillness of those early morning hours was shattered when militants stormed the school, throwing grenades and shooting guns and wielding machetes.
Mass chaos ensued, as students, many jolted from sleep, ran for their lives. The group, Al Shabab out of Somalia, claimed responsibility for the massacre.
Chilling accounts from survivors told of militants looking for those hiding and separating the Christians from the Muslims. Many students had to prove their Muslim status by answering questions from the Koran. Those who answered incorrectly were shot on the spot.
It wasn’t until late evening that authorities were able to contain the situation. By then, 148 people were dead, four of them members of the terrorist group.
While the attack was said to be in response to actions by Kenyan security forces against Al Shabab in Somalia, the group targeted Christians.
This winter has been a harrowing one for Christians around the world. With ISIS beheading believers, even young children, and other groups targeting believers, loving Jesus has never been so dangerous.
And yet tomorrow is Easter. Tomorrow is the day that sets Christianity apart from every other religion.
Because Jesus didn’t just die for us – He rose for us too. Unlike the central figures of Islam or Buddhism or Mormons, Jesus conquered the grave.
As I read about Al Shabab calling for attacks in the United States like their attacks in Kenya, I feel a chill of fear.
And it isn’t just terrorists on the other side of the world, either. As I read about the angry and often uninformed protesters of the Religious Freedom Act just passed in Indiana this week, and realize that most of them don’t even know what the act means yet it doesn’t stop the anger or hysteria, I feel apprehension snake up my spine.
It’s as if I can hear the drums of war in the distance. I can hear the tramp of feet and the first rumblings through the ground around me. It’s still in the distance, but I know the war on believers is drawing ever closer.
And I’m afraid. I’m afraid, not really for myself, but for my boys.
What kind of world will they live in? Will the days when you could go to church without fear, when you could live out your faith publicly without your life being in jeopardy, when Christian broadcasts and books and resources were so readily available we took them for granted – will those day seem distant and dreamlike. Will it be hard to remember what those days were like when my boys are my age?
And yet, tomorrow is Easter.
Tomorrow is the day I celebrate I serve a risen Savior. Tomorrow is the day I am reminded that while Satan won the battle, Jesus won the war.
In my frail humanity, when I read of these horrible atrocities, when I consider that they aren’t stories from across the globe but things that could happen here, it would be all too easy to let fear draw up a chair and take up residence, but I don’t have to.
Because tomorrow is Easter.
Tomorrow, I am reminded that I serve a Savior who is more than a conqueror and because I belong to Him, I am too. Tomorrow I am reminded that I no longer have to fear the grave because Jesus already been there, done that.
I weep for my sisters and brothers on the other side of the world that died because they loved Jesus. I weep for their family and friends who are mourning their loss. I weep for the students who survived but were terrorized in the process. After all, how do you sleep well again when you were awakened with gunshots and bloodshed?
But with the tears is the realization – those who are no longer with us are with Jesus. I am reminded that Al Shabab set out to kill and destroy, but all they really did was send believers to be with their Savior.
Because tomorrow is Easter.
Blessings, Rosanne