Love Acts

When I think of acts of love, I usually think of love towards family and friends. But once in awhile I am amazed by love among strangers. I want to share a story of an act of love from a recent CNN report.

On Monday, Al-Shabaab militants ambushed a bus in Kenya. things didn’t go according to plan. Al-Shabaab militants have a terrifying M.O.: Launch a raid, single out Christians, and then spray them with bullets.

But this time, a group of Kenyan Muslims shielded the Christian passengers and told the attackers they were prepared to die together. The Muslim passengers, who were mostly women, told the Islamic militants to kill them all or leave them alone.

In the attack, the gunmen ordered Muslim 100+ passengers on board to come out of the bus and separate themselves from the Christians, but the Muslim passengers refused. They gave the Christian women their hijabs and helped others hide behind bags in the bus.

“They told them, ‘If you want to kill us, then kill us. There are no Christians here,” he said.

A Christian man who tried to run away was captured and shot dead, Teno said. The driver of a truck, which was trailing the bus, was also killed. But most of the passengers were saved because of the courage and humanity of a group of people, Muslim people, whose religion mandates love for humanity just as Christianity does.

When others around us are demonizing the Muslim people, we should remember this story of human dignity and bravery. We can only pray that each of us will have this much integrity and courage if ever called upon.

Thanks be to God for acts of love.