Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Two More Ships Released from Captivity

Good news continues to come from the Somali Coast: two more ships which were hijacked months ago are now free and their crews returning to their homes. The African Sanderling, with 21 crew members was captured in October, and the Karagol, with 14 crew members, was hijacked in November by pirates.

Thank God for His protection and deliverance of these hostages! And while we should rightfully rejoice over this answered prayer, we should also be reminded of our need to pray for our enemies. After the dramatic release of the crew of the Sirius Star on Friday, when five of the pirates were drowned trying to escape with the ransom payment, the hand of God's judgment was clear to see. The question is, how will the remaining pirates respond to this obvious sign: will they be called to repentance or will they harden their hearts? I am happy to see that in these two cases, they appear to have chosen the first option. Let's pray harder than ever for the remaining hostages, on land and sea, in Somalia and in all the other places in the world where men and women are being held against their will, and where pirates and kidnappers make a trade in human misery. Let's pray that both the hostages and their captors will be freed from their chains.

1 comment:

CyberPastor said...

Praise God for the answered prayers! Anticipating more good news as all of us remain faithful to lift each of these situations up to the Father.