Day 150: Bad Day

Today was a bad day. I really have no other descriptor other than "bad" to summarize the events of the last 24 hours. Unfortunately, my criteria for rating this day as "bad" had nothing to do with my clinical responsibilities or the food in our dining facility or lack of hot water in the shower.


As I was returning from an Afghan Army meeting this morning, I just happened to be walking in the direction of a loud BOOM which was promptly followed by an all-to-familiar mushroom-shaped cloud (see pic above, off in the distance). Come to find out, it was an SUV rigged with explosives and a suicide driver who was targeting a local government meeting in the Mandozai District of Khowst Province only a few miles from our base. The saddest thing is that the bomber detonated the vehicle in the vicinity of a school which took the lives of 14 local Afghan children who could have very well been children that have been seen in our free clinic.

Such a vivid and painful reminder of the realities of war. An image that will be forever etched in my memory. My heart goes out to the people of Afghanistan and the families of those children. During a spare moment, please take the time to lift up the people of Afghanistan in prayer as they continue to live, essentially, as casualties of war.

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:4 NASB