Far Away from Ground Zero

I wanted to write a blog entry today. I had several thoughts about what I could write about. But then, I felt guilty. It's life as usual here in Pennsylvania. Adam goes to work, I take the kids to school, make dinner...you know, the usual. It's easy to get caught up in the every day things and perhaps forget for a moment that there is a crisis going on in Haiti. This morning I woke up to newsradio announcing a 2nd earthquake hit today. What does that mean for a country already in crisis? Because we don't watch a lot of TV in our house these days, it's easy to stay out of the loop. Maybe it's self-protective. If you don't see the pictures or hear the details it won't break your heart? You won't feel so helpless? The sun is shining, I have running water, my kids have to go to school, nothing has changed in my life. I guess I'm just feeling convicted that I need to be aware. They need our prayers and whatever else we have to give!

The earthquake in Haiti is devasting to its people, but there is a whole other issue going on and that's how the orphans will fair through all of this. I'm slowly becoming more informed by visiting the following websites:

The Livesay's
Randy and Kelcey Bohlender of the Zoe Foundation
Heartline Ministries
Worldwide Village

As I read at these sites, tears well in my eyes. Have I been so clueless? It's hard to know what it's really like there. It's hard to know what the true issues are. So the only thing we absolutely can do is pray. These ministries are asking for prayer. So that's what we can do. For God knows what is going on there. He knows every detail of what is happening. He is in control! He will make a way! When we can do nothing, but live our life today, doing our regular uneffected routine, He is at work!
JAMES 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

From the Heartline Ministries website:

We have prioritized our needs as follows:
First of all, we need prayer for Haiti and for safety of our people in Haiti. Our clinic is up and going. Please see the blog updates from John, Livesay's and Buxman's for details and pictures. Pray for the wounded.
Second, we are in great need of finances. We recognize that it will take more people knowing our need than our small base of supporters. We are asking each of you to spread the news by sending information and links to our website to as many people as possible.

My final encouragement comes from an excerpt of an article called "The Biblical Response to Disaster Requires Surrender" by Michael Barrick
To read this article in it's entirety click HERE.

A Biblical Response
Nehemiah offers Christians a step-by-step process on how to respond to disaster in a righteous, godly manner that, despite tragedy, will lead to kingdom expansion. The first step, prayer, seems to be the hardest, especially when we are overwhelmed with heart-wrenching scenes and repeated appeals for help. Still, as with Nehemiah, our challenge is to acknowledge and confess, especially publicly, that we are unable to deal with the disasters (and opportunities they present for sharing our faith) without God’s guidance. In doing so, the honor and glory will go to God from the start instead of to people or the programs.

So then, acknowledging the power of unified prayer is the first challenge facing the Church. Indeed, it is the proper first response so that we can know how to care for those in need and earn the right to share the hope found only in Jesus. When we do pray in one accord we have an incredible opportunity to allow God to demonstrate his presence in the midst of the storm.

It was not until he totally and fully surrendered to God that Nehemiah was directed to inspect the damage of the walls or go about any business of doing anything (Nehemiah 2:11-16). Once he assessed the damage, he then asked God to show him what it would take to rebuild the walls.

(Photograph from http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/)