Terror again

Last night, just before I went to sleep I saw a note by someone on Facebook saying a bomb had gone off in a local hotel.

smoke pours out the iconic Taj Mahal hotel - India's first luxury hotel

This morning when we woke up we found the truth was far worse than we could have imagined. Multiple attacks. Indiscriminate firing. Targetted strikes against foreigners. Hostages. Bomb blasts.

The information is still not complete - but the picture that we get from the news is just horrific.

blood and belongings on the floor of the main waiting area of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus - Mumbai's largest train station

We have had to cancel the Philip Yancey meeting which we had planned for this evening in Bandra.

The whole city is tense. Most people did not go to work today. Schools and colleges were shut.

Some areas of South Mumbai are still under curfew we understand as police and army units battle it out with the gunmen.

Here in Thane things are quiet - almost sleepy - but we know that this terrible event has put a deep shadow on what is to come.

We had Philip visit us this morning at the centre - and he shared about how he had had a terrible accident and broken his neck 1.5 years ago. When he was wheeled into the ER, the doctor did 'torture tests' on him - pricking him with needles and twisting body parts to see where he felt pain. Every time Philip winced the doctor was happy - it meant that his body was communicating with itself. Philip pointed out that there were 50 emails waiting for him this morning from people all over the world concerned about him and the church in Mumbai. The body that feels the pain of each member is a body which is alive.

Please pray for our city. Pray for the confusion and hatred that swirls around us. Pray that we will listen to what God wants us to hear - and act in loving obedience to His heart's command to us.