January 6th

Some dates are unforgetable. They mark the undulations of our collective humanity. Dates like 9/11 and 7/7 have become part of our everyday vocabulary, triggering images of horror and grief.

On January 6th, 2008, I was commissioned at the Parish Church of the Holy Trinity in St. Andrews to enter Sierra Leone for the first time. After 10 years of watching and waiting as God continually and profoundly put this country before me, it was a much-anticipated trip. Being commissioned on January 6th was a memorable event, not least because January 6th is also my father's birthday.

When I got into Sierra Leone and began meeting people , I kept hearing them talk about this date. "On January 6th rebels cut off my feet ... " "On January 6th I saw someone die right in front of me ..." I finally caught on and asked the significance of this day. I was told that while Sierra Leone's war had been going on for 8 years out in the countryside, for the people in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, there was little thought that the war would ever reach them. I discovered that January 6th (1999) is the day the rebels entered Freetown to take control of the government and the country. Many terrifying things happened to the citizens of Freetown on that day. The 6th of January is Sierra Leone’s 9/11 or 7/7. Before entering the country, I had no idea what had happened on this date 9 years earlier.

Victor Zizer is the minister of First Presbyterian Church in Freetown. He told me of his experience on January 6th. Rebels came to his house and held his family at gunpoint. They took half of the food in Victor's house for supplies. His wife and children were terrorized. When they left, his family was relieved just to be alive. A total of five groups of rebels came to their house that night. Victor and another pastor gathered about 200 people together and began praying in a place the Lord had provided as a refuge. They prayed through the night until they heard gunshots getting closer and decided to move. As they walked through the darkness, they heard bullets flying all about them. Victor says, "It was like walking through the valley of the shadow of death ..." This is just a small glimpse of Victor's harrowing story, and his is but one among the 2 million people who lived in Freetown at the time. So when I told Victor I was commissioned to come on January 6th, he looked at me as if to say, "That's significant." I should not neglect to mention that after the war, Victor participated in a programme to rehabilitate rebels--an unbelieveable act of grace and forgiveness.


You've probably heard me talk about the many 'amazing' things God has been doing to lead us to Sierra Leone and this is yet another one of them. My first trip into the country has confirmed that God is calling us to help heal what has happened to the people of this country during their war. As one of my friends, Jeff Tippner, says, "the Lord is already beginning to redeem that date for Sierra Leoneans."