Tuesday, September 6

Mixed Emotions

Every place you turn these days the aftermath of the hurricane is in view - every website, blog, newspaper, magazine and news program bombards ones senses with the turmoil in the south.

In reaction to the cries that relief did not come fast enough, my brother speaks in his blog about immense world-wide suffering, some of which he sees first-hand in Africa. I have found myself feeling a similar reaction. Many of the people whom I worked with in Sri Lanka have yet to receive aid after the tsunami of last December! We are a spoiled nation. We cannot fathom that an event could take place in which our discomfort cannot immediately be relieved.

By no means am I suggesting that we accept incompetent leadership or poor planning or that any of the suffering being experienced in the south is justified or necessary. Right now, though, we need to stop all of the finger-pointing and ugly talk and spend our time as a country equally on our knees in prayer and ankle-deep in mud helping those who are hurting.

There are a lot of people who are doing just that. There are Christians all over the country who are opening their homes, their churches, their hearts, hands and wallets to be who they have been called to be. This is why we are here - to provide opportunity for God's glory to be showcased. Thank you to all who are serving in this special way.

4 comments:

rebecca marie said...

thank you kristi for reminding us of our reason for serving. i'll be honest, i had a good angry cry with my husband over this, and i even said (please forgive me in advance everyone, i'm just sharing my heart), "i don't get it! for years i've been supporting bush and now i have to admit, he hates black people."

but that was misdirected anger. the fact is this. right now, as christians, we have been handed, by God, an opportunity. i hope none of us pass it up.

i can't go to the disaster area and serve, i'm a stay at home mom. some of us can give money, some of us can send food, some of us can donate air miles for a family to get somewhere else, some of us even have extra room in our homes.

know what we all have? the ability to pray. if that's all we have to give, we need to do it.

thanks so much for the reminder kristi.

dear God,

please forgive me for briefly forgetting the heart of the matter and being a finger pointer. purify my heart God to serve those in the huricane zone in anyway that I can.

your willing but stubborn servant.

Lori Ann said...

I read Jeff's post and hear what he is saying. I was thinking the other day about the tsunami victims and if they had continued to receive aid or have even gotten it yet. I always think about things like this after a year or two, how we just think it is in the past and how it is still real for the survivors of tragedies.
Good thoughts. Sorry, if I have just rambled on, got up to early.

phyllis said...

You have some great insights, Kristi, on how people confuse issues when they are in crisis. So many times we give lip service to the government helping us, but then when the need arises, we demand its help right now! We need to be more patient, but it is easy to say when I've never been in a major crisis situation.

KMiV said...

Kristi, Yes you are right. We have become impatient. Although our government has been slow. We have responded to world crisies a little quicker than the Hurricane Relief effort. In fact, I think no leader was willing to admit that the problem of poverty and homelessness was as big as it was. It seems that Jimmy Carter has always had the best response, when Skylab fell (something that already dates me). He went before the people and took full responsablity. We don't see that often but I believe that this is why he is so loved as a man of faith and a leader.

Sometimes it is easy to just say--OK, we didn't have enough water in the superdome and we messed up. Now lets get to work.