May 2019
On April 6, 1994, Rwandan President, Juvénal Habyarimana, was killed when his private Falcon 50 jet was shot down as it drew near to land at Kigali International Airport in the country’s capital. Not three days after, a massacre began where the Tutsi tribe and sympathizers to them were hunted down by those of the Hutu tribe who hacked to death to the count of what would ultimately be more than 1 million souls! The slaughter began in April, but it continued throughout the months of May and June ending in mid July–100 days after it began. This is the 25th anniversary of that 100-day Genocide!
When my son, Jamison, and I surveyed Rwanda in 2016 to evaluate the possibilities for future ministry opportunities, we were able to speak with Rwandans who told us of having lost at least one loved one in the genocide. Many others had lost a spouse and all their children. One taxi driver told how he was kept safe in a church underground. When the killings ceased, he emerged to realize that he had lost every living relative.
The reality is to know that sin abounds, and, that it indeed reigns unto death! Nonetheless, it is also reassuring to note that the grace of God abounds infinitely more, and, thus has the opportunity to “Reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rm.5:20-21) It is that very grace of God that makes the Gospel of Christ “Good News” to be preached upon the mountains of this sin sick, blood soaked, grave stacked world! That is precisely why Romans 10:17 echoes the words of Isaiah 52:7 which reads:
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
The feet of him who brings those tidings to the lost belong to your missionary! Pray for these beautiful feet which traverses that triumphal message to the regions beyond you!
Weeping & Rejoicing!
Rodney Myers
GFF General Director