Ephesians 6:12

This morning we headed out of the guest house fortress to meet up with two of our Russian colleagues who were taking us with them to the International Evangelical Church here in Addis Ababa. Before we made it to the front gate our boss, Mike, who also lives here, stopped us. “Did you hear what happened last night?” he asked. He went on to explain that Diana, one of our American co-workers, who lives a few houses away, had awoken to the sound of rocks being thrown at her roof. Thankfully, Diana has developed relationships with her neighbors and she blew a whistle to alert them to the situation, thereby also scaring away the people whose intentions did not seem good (had Diana’s guard opened the gate they may have forced their way in to take what they could get away with). Mike went on to affirm that we really do live in a safe area and that we shouldn’t be concerned but just the same we should lock our door when we go to bed. And he was going to inform our guards about the situation from the night and request them to try harder to stay alert and awake at night to be sure our gate stays secure J
After we returned from church Diana called a few of us from the neighborhood together asking that we walk with her around the neighborhood and pray. She was obviously shook up from the events of the night, questioning whether she should pack up and leave Ethiopia. When a handful of us gathered at her house I began to learn more about the situation. This was the 5th time in the course of 2 months that things like this had been happening. But this time, after hearing Diana’s whistle, one of the neighbors thought she saw 4-5 men (at least teenagers) dressed in black wearing masks.

One of the other ladies offered some possibly insightful information she and her husband had heard from an Ethiopian pastor the night before. He told them that last night was some sort of cult holiday and he and his church had been praying for 2 months that they would be protected from the evil that they’ve known to occur during the cult’s holiday time. Was it coincidence? Was it just some teenagers out “having fun”? But 5 times, in 2 months, at the same place? Why hasn’t our household experienced any of this?

We walked around and prayed for the neighborhood, for the people who were causing the disturbance and fear for our colleague, for Diana’s peace and faith and confidence that she’s where God wants her to be, for God’s protection over this area and all of us and for his power to be made known to the trouble-makers. It’s nice being able to pray aloud in English and know that God understands even though all the people that looked at us as we walked by didn’t.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Eph 6:12