Music-maker's last disc


It was Sunday morning and the sun was shining. Olwen assiduously read her SU Bible Notes and I was sprawled out on the bed. Then we heard the shouting - angry, discordant and male. There had been loud music all night and now something had turned nasty. And then there was gunfire. I guessed the all-night music-maker was protecting himself from an angry mob.

 Thankfully the rest of the day was quiet. It was Dia de la Biblia (Bible Sunday) and our church gave New Testaments to passers-by. However in the evening as we played Scrabble, the peace was broken by 3 shots. This time I guessed that judgment had come on the troubled music-maker. There’s been no music since.

I find the sound of gunfire chilling. It signifies death, as well as tears and pain. It takes away the Christian along with the wicked. We hear it frequently for Colombia’s 50,000 disarmed guerrillas have rearmed in urban gangs.

 But it’s not for this reason we’re leaving the country in December, it’s because of our conviction that I’ve got to the maximum of my risk taking health-wise. To continue would be foolish. The Mission Executive see things similarly and we’ll meet with the Board in the coming year to think about the future.

 Thanks so much for your prayers: they’re effective.

Photo: Urban Medellín where macho men and women murder 180 monthly

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