What a difference a headline makes

After the terrorist attack at Garissa, news reports here featured a warning that Al-Shabaab is planning an attack on a school along the Kampala-Jinja highway.  Now, this road is 53 miles long, and UCU isn't right on the road (it's on Bishop Tucker Road, which branches from Jinja Road), and there are quite a few schools along this road, though obviously, UCU is the largest.

Perhaps it's my naïveté; I didn't think much of that.  However, I did see a report on Facebook that UCU is indeed being targeted.  I've never heard of this news source, so I take it with a grain of salt, though we are a Christian university, so that indeed makes us a target.  The write-up includes a nice little history of UCU, so while I don't know these people, they do get some journalistic points from me.  

Obviously, terrorism and its threats bring confusion and worry; that's the point.  Please pray for the leaders and security forces here as they guide and protect us.  We still have the American undergrads here; please pray for wisdom for the administrators of the USP program and the respective universities involved.  Please pray that decision makers would have peace, especially the parents of these undergrads.

I am fine, and am at peace.  Seeing the article undid me a bit - it's never fun to see that you are a target.  However, it's a reality; I'm a Christian living in a country where there are terror cells.  When I'm in my collar, I'm easily identified as a Christian.  I find myself returning to Psalm 27:

The Lord is my light and my salvation - 
    whom shall I fear?  
The Lord is the stronghold of my life, 
    of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked advance against me 
    to devour me, 
it is my enemies and my foes 
    who will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me, 
    my heart will not fear; 
though war break out against me, 
    even then I will be confident.
One thing I ask from the Lord, 
    this only do I seek:  
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord 
    all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord 
 and to seek him in his temple.

I'm preparing a sermon for Wednesday on suffering, with 1 Peter 4:12-16 as my text.  This week's events certainly give a different perspective.  I especially like verses 12-13:

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

Amen.