Bombay

Below is an email update from a friend who is in Bombay and narrowly missed becoming a casualty of the recent terrorist attack there. Please pray for Chris and his team as well as the people of Bombay as they deal with the aftermath of this horrible attack. And praise be to God for the obvious protection that He gave Chris and his team members.

Dear all,

In case you haven't heard from CNN or BBC, Bombay was hit by a major
terrorist attack yesterday.

Between 6:00pm and 6:30pm IST, a series of seven bomb blasts hit the
Western Railway Line. All of the bombs were planted either on the trains,
or at various stations along the railway line. The Western Line runs
through some of the most heavily populated areas of Bombay, and
approximately 6 million people use this line for transport every day. The
bombs were timed to go off within a twelve minute period, and 6:00-6:30 is
about the time that rush hour starts, so the trains were packed about to
the limit when the bombs went off. It was very deliberately planned to
cause maximum casualties and illicit fear from the general populace. The
estimated body count is now around 175 people, with another 500-1000
people estimated to be injured in the blasts and the panic that ensued
afterward.

This series of attacks hit me very close to home. I use the Western Line
to go to work every single day. I leave work at around 6:00pm, and am
still on the trains at 6:30pm, since my commute takes about an hour. I
travel in the men's first class compartment, which is the exact
compartment in which every bomb that was planted on the trains was
detonated. By the grace of God, my boss let me go home early yesterday.
I missed travelling on the trains during the time the bombs went off by
only an hour. Three of the bomb blasts affected the route I take every
day. One detonated at the station in the suburb I live, one detonated at
the station in the area where my office is located, and one detonated at a
station in between those two stops.

Telecommunications were almost completely frozen by the government
yesterday, and I was unable to make outgoing calls. This left many of our
staff scrambling in the dark to figure out if anyone from our office had
been injured or killed in the blasts. Until this morning, many of us were
unreachable, stranded by the lack of public transportation, and
unaccounted for. This morning, we were able to ascertain that only one
member of our staff had been injured. He was travelling in one of the
compartments in which a bomb was detonated. By a stroke of divine
providence, he is only suffering from a burn on his hand, and a gash on
his head that required a few stitches. While hospitalized, he is doing
all right, and will quickly recover, at least from the physical trauma.
Please pray that he can also cope with the mental and emotional trauma.

Other than that, several of our office staff were saved by split second
decisions not to get on trains that were wired with explosives. The
number of close calls we had yesterday is amazing, and it smacks of a
sense of God intervening on our behalf.

If all of you could please pray for the situation in the aftermath of this
tragedy, we would appreciate it. There are worries that local Hindu
fundamentalist groups will blame the attacks on local Muslims, which will
lead to riots and lynchings. Violent exchanges between various
underground Muslim gangs and fundamentalist Hindu groups has been
happening for decades in this city, and we are hoping that these blasts
won't serve to fuel hatred between the two groups. Pray this does not
happen, or things could get really ugly. Pray also that the families of
those who have been injured or killed might find comfort and peace. And
that the government might find the individuals involved in the blasts and
bring them to justice.

Most of all, know that I am doing all right. The primary worry that I
have now is how some members of my team will deal with the stress of the
trauma and the fear that might grip the city. Pray that we won't be
afraid. I think this is the one piece of advice that Jesus most often
gave to his disciples and I know that, if we really let fear grip us, it
could lead to self-absorbtion and a multitude of sins. Pray that the
Christians here might be a light to others, and be a source of peace,
comfort and reconciliation to those around us.

Peace of Christ,

-Chris