Missionaries' son narrowly escapes Madrid bomb blasts
3/12/2004 News media contact: Linda Bloom · (646) 369-3759 · New York A graphic and a head-and-shoulders photograph of the Rev. R. Randy Day are available at http://umns.umc.org. A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
The son of a United Methodist missionary couple based in Madrid, Spain, narrowly escaped one of the terrorist bomb blasts there.
Four commuter trains were bombed in coordinated attacks during the March 11 morning rush, killing nearly 200 people and injuring more than 1,400, and plunging Spain into three days of mourning. According to The New York Times, it was the deadliest terrorist attack in Europe since World War II.
Officials at the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries received an e-mail message from the Rev. Mark Abbott, who serves with his wife, Diane, in Madrid, after they were able to talk with their 12-year-old son, Chris, about his experience.
Chris Abbott did not feel or hear the bomb blast when his train pulled into the Santa Eugenia station one or two minutes later, according to his father. "However, his car pulled in right next to the affected train," Mark Abbott reported. "He saw the demolished car, dead bodies, severely injured people."
A man who rides the same train every day gave Chris a cell phone to allow him to call his parents. His sister, Caroline, 17, usually rides with him and carries a phone but was not on the train that day.
"While talking on the phone, a classmate came up to him and told him that her parents were coming to pick them up and take them to school, which is what happened," Mark Abbott said. "Diane could never have gotten there by car. The area was totally inaccessible."
Mark Abbott, a member of the Northwest Texas Annual (regional) Conference, serves as a professor of New Testament in the United Evangelical Theological Seminary, the oldest Protestant theological school in Spain. Diane Abbott does translation work for the seminary program. They also have another son, Andrew, 20.
The Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the Board of Global Ministries, sent a letter of condolence and concern to the Rev. Alfredo Abad Heras, chief executive of the Spanish Protestant Church.
"Such a great tragedy reminds us not only of the fragility of life, but also of God's everlasting love," Day said. "The loss of loved ones and friends strengthens our faith and unites us in fellowship with Christ. It calls us toward greater efforts in peacemaking and reconciliation."
The World Council of Churches also sent a message of solidarity to the churches and people of Spain.
In his e-mail message, Mark Abbott asked for prayers for the victims, their families and even those behind the terror. Investigators are considering both Basque separatists, who have fought against the Spanish government for years, and Islamic terrorists as possible instigators for the attacks.
"When God confronted such evil in the person of Jesus, God did not respond with an air raid or land the marines or send a plague," he wrote. "God confronted inhumane and demonic evil with the Cross and thus broke the cycle of violence, hatred and revenge. May God give us the grace to walk the way of the Cross rather than the road of the Crusades."
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York. |
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