No More Guns!!!

This morning we went to church in the Internally Displaced Camp. I wish you could have been there! Tears flowed throughout the beautiful service. Even before we arrived at the church, we could hear people singing with all of their hearts. The service was held in a UN canvas tent. People crowded in as closely as they could. I was thankful it was a cooler day.

As is typical here, each choir gets a chance to sing - the children, the youth, the women, the deaconesses. I don't know how to describe it but when this particular tribe, the Nuer, sing, they are literally singing as loud as they possibly can. You can actually see them cough and grasp their throats at times because you can see that it's hurting their throats from singing so loudly. But they are praising the Lord and lifting His name high.

During one song, I was profoundly touched. There were lots of hand motions and I could tell the people felt deeply about what they were singing about. At one point a young girl, probably only 6 or 7, started walking around the church, in and out, through the rows, holding up a replica of an AK-47 made out of mud. I wasn't sure what they were singing about since it was in the Nuer language but as I looked around women, young and old began weeping and wiping their tears. What happened next made my tears roll as well: the little girl began ripping the mud gun apart, pulling the pieces off and throwing them on the ground. Women began to ululate and raise their hands in the air. After the service I learned that the song was saying they are through with guns! They want no more with guns! They have all been deeply and terribly impacted by the power and destruction of the gun.

Our prayer rose up together and we know God heard: King of Kings, please, we ask that there be no more guns in this land! No more fighting! No more jealousy!

We wait for God to answer.