The air in the Highlands reminds me that it’s October. Crisp, but not biting, with spurts of heat that at home would be the remainders of summer. Here they are reminders that the equator is close at hand. Technically it’s not quite rainy season, but all the characteristics are beginning to appear. The Highlands’ mornings start with clear skies and a strong sun, slowly tapering into clouds that become afternoon thunderstorms. I forgot how much I love and hate the weather in the Highlands. In Madang I’m accustomed to feeling the exact same heat each day. In the mountains it can shift from frigid to steaming in a matter of hours, and I can bless and curse it in the same amount of time. 

Ray playing outside after church, just before the cold rain starts.

We’re back in Ukarumpa for a week, the mission center in the Highlands where we lived the majority of our last term. We come up occasionally to go to the clinic and see old friends. This visit will also include a day trip to a town called Goroka where we need to see a doctor that can clear us for our medical visas to Australia. The only available doctors in country for this task are found in Goroka, Lae, or Port Moresby. Combining the visa appointment with a trip to Ukarumpa helps us avoid a long drive and overnight in Lae. Since there are no roads from our part of the country to Port Moresby, that option is out of the question. The medical clearance is one of the last steps in a long list of steps to get our acts together for having a baby in Cairns. And even though we made it safely to Ukarumpa and completed our work here, we’re not sure this trip will be a complete success. 

A few weeks ago a Highlands man boarded a public bus with little thought that this would be the last public bus he would ever board. That same day a group of young men decided to quench their unholy thirst for revenge by murdering a Highlander, and this man became their random target. When his bus approached the group, they stopped it, boarded, and simply found the first Highlander they could. They identified this man and loosely claimed he was a member of the clan they were in conflict with. Thus justified, they beat him to death, and dropped his body off at the nearest morgue.

The man was a teacher, husband, father, and a follower of Christ. By all accounts, he was one of those rare, solid people that demonstrates the highest character. His death was an act of retaliation in a string of deaths that have occurred recently on a strip of the Highlands Highway between Kainantu (a town near Ukarumpa) and Goroka. His clan responded to the brutal death by blocking the highway to traffic until justice is served; not the kind of justice we are accustomed to in the States, but the kind that calls for blood or a payment of compensation equal to $25 million. Though there was a brief period of time where the groups in conflict agreed to sit together with officials to try and work out peace, peace was not reached and the road was blocked until last week when another stalemate occurred.

I wouldn’t say this is a common occurrence in PNG, but it isn’t shocking. Fights like this happen, and being a culture based on reciprocity, one death can turn into many deaths. These conflicts sometimes spill into markets or towns or roads affecting more than just the immediate groups concerned, like this one. So we don’t know if we’ll make it to Goroka. The head of security in Ukarumpa is keeping a close eye on the situation and will know whether or not it’s safe for us to try to make the trip on Friday. At this point it would be safe for us to go while the two sides work with police, but we’ll check again on Thursday before heading out.

Until a few days ago I’ll admit that my biggest concern about this situation, and what I focused my prayers on, was that all would be straightened out and the road would be open for us to get our clearance. It won’t be the end of the world to go to Lae, but it will be more expensive and highly inconvenient to make a special trip. I don’t know if my reaction is a result of being in and out of PNG since 2005 and slowly becoming numb to these types of events, or if it’s just my selfish, sinful nature thinking first of how I’m positively or negatively affected by the events around me. Either way, my prayers have shifted dramatically in the last few days.

The clan the Highlands man belonged to is blocking the road, but his immediate family is pleading with them to act in a manner counter to culture and counter to their human desires, and more in line with what the victim would want them to do. They say that instead of crying for blood or an unattainable fee, he would want forgiveness and peace found in Christ. From an outsider’s view of this particular situation, their attempts to speak truth into the lives of those involved seems fruitless. The road remains blocked and anger festers. Despite this I have little doubt that God is using this man’s life, death, and family to change people in ways we can’t see.

Rarely, if ever, do we assume that this day will be our last, this act our final act. We go through life blissfully ignoring its unavoidable end, because how else would we cope day to day? When I heard more details about the road situation it hit me how self-absorbed I am, even in my prayers. Whether or not we make it to Goroka is forgettable, but the events playing out on that road right now have eternal significance for those involved. And that is what the focus of my prayers have shifted to. We’re asking you to pray with us, not that we would make it safely to Goroka to conveniently complete our medical clearance, but instead that God would use this man’s family and this situation to shine light in darkness and to ultimately glorify Himself.