Please keep Puerto Rico in your prayers as we head towards our training phase of the project!
“When the explosion happened Robby and I were shocked out of bed, I thought an airplane had crashed into the house!”
Juliann Smith is not alone in her experience. Last Friday night a large explosion caused 21 fuel tanks from Gulf Oil to catch fire in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They continued burning for two days affecting the 2.5 million people who live in the San Juan metro area.
Smith says that her son was an eyewitness. “Nathan, who was outside, saw the blast and the mushroom cloud that began to form. (He) ran home, yelling that the world is ending!”
"I was in bed and all of a sudden heard this really horrible sound,” said Teo Freytes, who filed an internet Report for CNN. “So I ran upstairs and thought the whole town had blown up!"
All over the city residents felt the power of the explosion, which the Puerto Rico seismic network says was the equivalent of a 2.8 magnitude earthquake. The gas explosion was the first major disaster in more than ten years. As the shock and devastation set in for the small Caribbean island many began to wonder what happened and why.
“An incident of such magnitude can shake the stability and security of this fragile world we live in. It demonstrates that we cannot put our hope and security in material things,” said David Casillas. “Because it was an event that could not be foreseen or predicted like a hurricane, the fire could not be planned or prepared for.”
Casillas is a San Juan Pastor and the national coordinator of the My Hope Project by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. My Hope is a project, which trains and prepares Christians with the tools needed to share the gospel with friends, family, and neighbors who are not believers, using specially produced television programs.
Casillas says it’s a way to share everlasting hope with those who need it most. “There is no doubt that the My Hope Project has come at a time like this to bring hope, peace, and the good news of a better tomorrow through salvation in Jesus Christ.”
After the explosion, the importance of sharing Christ with others hit very close to home for many in Puerto Rico like Juliann Smith. Though it wasn’t the end of the world, the bible teaches that Jesus will return. Christians in Puerto Rico say that through projects like My Hope, they are seeing new ways that they can share Christ’s love with others before the real end comes.
