Should we go or should we stay?

Everybody knows about the tsunami which hit the Aceh area resulting in hundreds of thousands of victims and refugees and the following earthquake which hit Nias Island where hundreds more were killed. The effects of these disasters are still being felt in various parts of Sumatra . It doesn't really stop there, but extends as far as the Island of Java where the Sundanese people live.

Recently there was a crisis; when a volcano reasonably close to my house became active. It was always a sleeping volcano where many tourists came to eat eggs they cooked in the boiling water heated by the underground magma. Flames were recently observed under the crater which was used to cook the eggs (the heat rose to level 4, if it reaches level 5 there will be an eruption). Everybody was told to run away, so we did.

"Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the priveleges of deity and took on the status of a slave...He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life."

Phillipians 2:7-8 (The Message)

We needed to plan how we could get away quickly in the event of an eruption. I asked one of my neighbours about this and her answer made me ashamed. “Where can we run to, we don't have a place to go, and how can we run because we don't have any vehicle to ride in” she answered. Yes, they are too poor to have a car and because their home is here, they don't have any other place to go. We have a country to which we can return, and we have a car to escape in. The fear of the volcano's eruption made us forget that we should serve our neighbours. Did not Jesus come to the earth to serve the people and even to give his life? My first concern had been my own family's safety. So we decided to pray, firstly that the volcano would not erupt and secondly that we could find a way to take as many of our neighbours as possible with us if there was an eruption.

Prayer points:

That the volcano will not erupt (in 1982 when a volcano erupted, there was total darkness for 4 days in this area and the ash went as far away as Singapore).
For a clear and prompt warning system which would allow people time to escape in the event of an eruption.
That we may have the attitude of Christ in all things
That the disasters may turn the Sundanese people to God and that they may seek Him with all their hearts.