God Protects His Own!
We know that 80% of the town
of Meulaboh, in Aceh, was destroyed by the Tsunami waves and 80% of the people died.
This is one of the towns that was hit the hardest. But there is a fantastic
testimony from Meulaboh. In that town are about 400 Christians. They wanted to
celebrate Christmas on December 25th but were not allowed to do so by the
Muslims of Meulaboh. They were told, if they wanted to celebrate Christmas,
they needed to go outside the city of Meulaboh on a high hill and there
celebrate Christmas.
Because the Christians desired to
celebrate Christmas, the 400 believers left the city on December 25th.
After they celebrated Christmas, they stayed overnight on the hill. As we all
know, the morning of December 26 there was the earthquake followed by the
Tsunami waves that destroyed most of the city of Meulaboh. Thousands were
killed. The 400 believers were on the mountain and were all saved from
destruction.
Now the Muslims of Meulaboh are saying
that the God of the Christians punished them for forbidding the Christians to
celebrate Christmas in the city. Others are questioning why so many Muslims
died while not even one of the Christians died there.
Had the Christians insisted on their
rights to celebrate Christmas in the city, they would have all died. But,
because they humbled themselves and followed the advice of the Muslims, they
all were spared destruction and can now testify to God's marvelous protection.
This is a testimony of the grace of
God and the fact that, as believer’s, we have no rights in the world. Our right
is to come before God and commit our lives to Him. Our right is kneeling down
before the Lord almighty and committing our ways to Him. He is our Father and
is very capable of caring for His children. Praise the Name of the Lord.
Bill Hekman, Pastor
Calvary Life Fellowship in Indonesia