There is a five year old who has been kidnapped and held against his will in a bunker.
The bus driver, who tried to protect this young boy – murdered.
I’m out-raged! I’m furious!
This boy whose birthday is next week, is held in a bunker beneath the world he knows. He is held down in a grave, at gunpoint, against his will – as he lives and breathes!
Ethan – his name is Ethan.
I want to make some profound parallel between Christ in the grave. But somehow I feel like I’m just reciting clichés.
And, Ethan, He is allowed to send his mother a message. He asks his mother for a coloring book, and crayons. Down in the gray, he brings color into the room.
Color – light in travail and brokenness.
I want God to bring some profound spiritual wisdom into my heart and mind. Yet, no glimmer of the profound enters my thoughts.
Then I think of Corrie Ten Boom. An unknown watch maker’s daughter, living a quiet life in Amsterdam, Holland.
She was ripped out of her safe loving surrounds and hurled into the pit known as Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany.
She was once quoted, “There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.” How simple her words, how profound is her message.
Corrie Ten Boon spoke of the Great Tribulation to come. “This world is deathly ill. It is dying. The Great Physician has already signed the death certificate. Yet there is still a great work for Christians to do.”
I don’t know when the Great Tribulation will come; it seems sometimes it has already begun. The churches in Ethan’s hometown are holding prayer vigils, crying out to God. They are in travail, and we pray with them.
I pray for the family of sixty-six year old Charles Albert Poland. Jr., the bus driver.
Earlier I pray against the gunman – now, I pray for him. I pray that he repents as Nebuchadnezzar repented – in the wild and down in the dirt; I pray that he releases Ethan, as Pharaoh – whose heartbreak caused him to, released the children of Israel.
And I pray for Ethan, the Word. “He that overcometh shall inherit all things: and I will be His God, and he shall be My son.” (Revelation 21:7)
I pray the Spirit of the Living God give Ethan the wisdom to overcome. For when he does overcome through the strength of the Holy Spirit, that even in that pit of gray, Ethan is a light to the gunman, and to others of the love of Christ, down in the pit.
Photo credit: abcnews.go.com, www.csmonitor.com, bigstory.ap.com, foxnews.com
Linking today with Mindy at NewEquus.
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This whole situation has me on my knees. Praying for Ethan and for all those touched by this evil. Thank you for your words which comfort and hope.
Amy, I know their family appreciates all of us on our knees interceeding. Thank you for commenting.
what a truly horrible thing… may God care and protect this boy, convict and care for the man who has done this awful thing, may He comfort the families who’ve lost…
Richelle, yes, and amen. May he bring that baby home to his parents soon.
I had not heard about this story. Joining all of you in praying for God to move the heart of this kidnapper to release Ethan. And praying for God to surround Ethan with an army of angels to watch over, protect, and provide for him in supernatural ways!!
Blessings,
Wendy
Thank you for joining the Army of Prayer, Wendy!
I followed you here from Holley Gerth’s WLW group on FB. May God bless your blogging (and comfort Ethan and his family)!
– jenni, http://www.StrokeOfGrace.blogspot.com
It is nice to meet you Jennifer!Thank you for the blessing, I’ll accept all that will come my way. Thank you for praying for Ethan. I don’t know Ethan or his family, but I can only imagine what they must be going through.
Blessings on you as well Jennifer, I can tell already, that you are a treasure.