It was hard to watch the aftermath of the Brussels bombings on the news, but I couldn’t turn away. The places are too familiar, and I have friends and loved ones living in Brussels. I posted an early news report on Facebook and received more reports from friends. I posted a prayer of support and prayed many more times for those affected. One friend wondered how she would get home, with public transportation at a standstill.
A missionary friend of ours was in the Brussels airport that morning trying to catch a flight. He felt the blast, abandoned his luggage, and ran out of the terminal. The missionary who had just dropped him off, parked his car, and went back to see if he could help. He asked one injured survivor if he could pray for her, and she said, “Yes.” He asked if she believed in GOD and she declared, “I do now!”
I am very familiar with that airport, having taken many flights from there. My daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren passed through it when they came for a visit. I also know the Maelbeek subway stop, where the other blast occurred. We lived nearby and took the same subway line many times without giving it a second thought. After all, Brussels is a city of immigrants, where people from around the world have found open doors and opportunity. Not far from that very subway station is the largest Mosque in Europe and you could hear the tolling of bells from Christian Churches in that neighborhood. In the same area is the Headquarters of the European Union, whose members took in hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. Many were being cared for in Brussels.
On that fateful morning, people began their journey with no idea how it would end. For too many it was the beginning of their final journey. A few may have prayed before they began, but for most, there wasn’t time for things like that. As people made their way to the airport, maybe they worried about flight delays or were thinking about their intended destination? They may have briefly worried about the possibility of the plane crashing but standing in the terminal they should have been safe.
I have been on the subway that was attacked. Taking public transportation is a daily routine in Brussels and people fill their time reading or on their mobile phone. They may have been hoping to get to their destination on time, but the blast caught everyone, but the terrorists by surprise.
The bombers knew they would die but didn’t know their final journey would lead them to eternal death. If they had, they would have been afraid. We will all take that final journey, but we don’t have to be afraid because, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3;16 KJV). If you accept JESUS, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21 KJV) and so, whether you live or die, you win!
Wayne Lance (2016) – That’s Good News to Share!