Shell-Shocked Paris Mourns: 'I'm Afraid Because Now It's Real'
PARIS -- Police in France exposed more jihadists Wednesday in their hunt for the ringleaders of the attacks that claimed the lives of 129 people in Paris last week.
Intelligence reports suggest European governments may have flagged the terrorists well before the attacks.
Meanwhile, Parisians are doing their best to move forward and return to their normal routines.
But now that they know the attackers were born and raised in France and Belgium, many wonder -- is it safe moving forward?
"We know they are here, this guy, or this guy. We don't know. I'm afraid because now it's real," one resident said.
With everything going on, French Christians are heading to the memorials to help comfort those grieving, along with French-speaking chaplains from the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team.
"My people, the French people, they don't know about Jesus, nothing," one chaplain said. "It's a secular country. Everybody is so sad, and there is no hope so we need to be here as a Christian."
"Our goal is really just to bring hope in a time of crisis," said Laurent, a Canadian chaplain from the Rapid Response Team.
Although three days of mourning have come to an end, grief is still weighing heavily on hearts of the people of Paris.
The response team has deployed eight chaplains to minister to them and spread God's love in the city during this difficult time.
"(We're) standing with people, grieving with people, and praying with them when the opportunity arrives, as well as uniting churches around France and encouraging them to respond," Laurent said.
The chaplains will be here for at least two weeks praying with people and helping churches plan vigils to reach out to the community during these challenging times.
"People are responding to this pray for Paris initiative," Laurent said.
"What we want to do is encourage the Church to take advantage of that," he explained. "And to create maybe prayer vigils to maybe come and pray at the sites of the different shootings, and we will stand alongside ready to minister to people alongside the Church."
"Wearing this shirt, I invite people to say, 'Okay, we can pray together. It's simple," a team member named Daniel told CBN News.
The team asks for prayer -- that God will lead them to people with open hearts and that they will find Spirit-led opportunities to minister to people ready and willing to hear the message of hope Jesus offers them.
