Getting There

On the morning of Day 7, it seems safe to say that things are really settling down. They did not need to declare a State of Emergency and so the army has not been sent in to restore order. Schools and businesses reopened yesterday, although probably only about half the children and employees were there. Many still stayed home out of fear, and public transportation was not fully operational yet. Hopefully, another day of peace will help to put the schools, businesses and public transport back into full swing again, albeit with tighter security.

Yesterday, 3000 Morobeans gathered to present a letter addressed to our Prime Minister Peter O'Neill. In it they stated that they will agree to stop fighting if certain conditions are met, the most significant one being the call to maintain law and order at the major bus stops and main areas in town. And certainly this seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back and started the unrest---when the Morobeans felt they needed to take the law into their own hands to deal with the crimes being committed in these areas by, supposedly, the youth from the highlands.

If any good has come out of this whole ordeal, it is that the government has been forced to take action and it certainly seems it has been negligent. One of the newspapers reported that the Morobe Provincial Law and Order Committee set up many years ago to monitor law and order trends in the city hasn't met for the last three years! Now the government has appointed an assembly law and order committee to look into ethnic tension in the city. Here's hoping they will take their task very seriously! They also stated that there will be more police presence at the major bus stops in town.

Lessons have been learned, eyes have been opened, solutions to the problems will be sought, but this has all come at a great cost. The official report is that six are dead. We're sure many more have been injured. Many houses have been burnt down and a large number of innocent families have again been displaced. And possibly, the tension between the two groups is even higher.

That's when you realize again the great need for prayer. We need to pray for this city -the youth, the leaders, but no less the parents and grandparents and children. For at bottom the issue is one of the heart. Theft, rape, murder, rioting, uncontrolled anger, disrespect, lying and corruption are all indicators that the heart of 'man' is desperately evil...continually. That heart needs to be purged and cleansed, atoned for by the precious blood of our Saviour, the Prince of Peace. We will soon enter the time of advent, we pray that the people of Lae will understand what that means.

There is one who has come to redeem, to set free, to bring peace and reconcile us to God carrying our sin and guilt and shame on the cross so that in Him and only in Him we can know true Peace! That is the kind of peace that will last forever!