Tears for one - tears for millions

Picture from PentictonToday.com

Since the earthquake and resulting tsunami I’ve been spending time in prayer, seeking the Lord for answers to the emotions stirring within.

Surely I grieve for the lives shattered and lost in Japan; the ears of my heart are not deaf to their cries.

And yet I wonder why the outpouring of shock, tears and support is so evident around me in the middle of this crisis in a way different than when Haiti was struck, or when the tsunami devastated Indonesia. These already seem forgotten.

Japan is much like us, a first world nation. Is that why we are moved? If this could happen to them, it could happen to us.

In the middle of my pondering I recalled the following from Richard Stearns The Hole In Our Gospel:

I want you to imagine for a moment that you woke up this morning to the following headline: “One Hundred Jetliners Crash, Killing 26,500.” Think of the pandemonium this would create across the world as heads of state, parliaments, and congresses convened to grapple with the nature and causes of this tragedy.

Now imagine that the very next day, one hundred more planes crashed – and one hundred more the next, and the next, and the next. It is unimaginable that something this terrible could ever happen.

But it did – and it does.

It happened today, and it happened yesterday. It will happen again tomorrow. But there was no media coverage. No heads of state, parliaments, or congresses stopped what they were doing to address the crisis, and no investigations were launched. Yet more than 26,500 children died yesterday of preventable causes related to their poverty, and it will happen again today and tomorrow and the day after that. Almost 10 million children will be dead in the course of a year.  So why does the crash of a single plane dominate the front pages of newspapers across the world while the equivalent of one hundred planes filled with children crashing daily never reaches our ears?

Do we, can we allow the storm that rocked Japan to loom larger and take on more importance than any other losses?

I hear the voice of one
in the cries of millions.
My heart trembles
teeters, cracks
as it falls
all at once able
to leak fresh tears.
Sometimes
there are no answers.
My spirit weeps
with those who weep.
I hear the voice of millions
in the cries of one.

Check more Wednesday One Shots at One Stop Poetry

Saturday Evening Blog Post - January 2010

It's time again for Elizabeth Esther's Saturday Evening Blog Post where bloggers gather on the first Saturday of the month to share their latest and greatest blog posts.

This month I'm linking back to the haiku I wrote after being challenged by Robin at Pensieve and (In)Courage

I received more comments than usual on this post, so I share it with you again here.

Now it's your turn. Come link up to your favorite post from January 2010.

Frozen hearts

Robin at (In)Courage has challenged us to a creative stretch:

Write a haiku. Seventeen syllables (three lines--line one, five syllables; line two, seven; line three, five)--that's it! Set your poem in Winter, but you don't have actually to use that word; other than that, you're free to express yourself however you'd like.

Here is what the Lord led me to write this morning:

Hearts closed and solid
frozen to protect themselves
crack free for Haiti

Image by United Nations Development Programme via Flickr

Come join in here, add your haiku and be entered to win $25 at the (In)Courage shop.

Fingerprint Friday - Heart smudges

I been running into the arms of God this week as I spend time in prayer for the people of Haiti, for there I find safety in a world that seems to spin without control or reason. The Haiti earthquake leaves the ground beneath us feeling less than solid.

Words of fellow bloggers have left me breathless, weeping and aching in unison with their pain and frustration.

Janet Oberholtzer writes Pain Hurts

Teri Lynne writes on how her daughter teaches us there is A Time To Dance

Jennifer writes about how We Shake

I thank God for the ways He is able to use us, imperfect as we are, to leave smudged fingerprints on each other's hearts. I believe that when we do so, we are reaching up and touching His heart as well.

Join Beki at The Rusted Chain and add your fingerprints.

Haiti Earthquake

Help - Without answers

Our world has been shaken by news of the devastation in Haiti. We gasp, weep, pray. And we ask "why?"

While we may never have answers, we must respond. As mind boggling numbers of deaths, injuries and loss are reported, those affected by the Haiti earthquake cry out in desperation.



In an email to Compassion Bloggers, Shaun Groves writes:

The catastrophic earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12 has resulted in unfathomable chaos and devastation for hundreds of thousands of children and families. Compassion sponsors and donors serve more than 65,000 children in Haiti. At least a third of them live in the areas that were hardest hit.

I am asking you to please send a generous gift today to help precious children and their families, and to encourage others to give to Compassion International through your blog, Facebook and Myspace pages, Twitter account and e-mail. Please utilize every on-line tool you have access to. The people of Haiti desperately need our help and hope.

Compassion International is working rapidly to assess the situation and determine the full extent of damage:

• Sadly, we anticipate there will be many deaths.
• We anticipate thousands of children and families will have lost everything.
• We anticipate many of our church-based child development centers will have been destroyed.

Without a doubt, the children we serve in Haiti are in shock and face immediate needs for food, water, medical care, shelter and counseling. We have teams prepared to respond, and we are deeply committed to helping each child.

We need your help immediately. Please reach out in the name of Jesus to bring relief, comfort, love and restoration to precious children and families whose lives have been devastated by this crisis.

Go to the Crisis Update Page to read the latest info from Compassion.

I'm asking that you take time now to seek the Lord. Listen to the way His heart breaks for the people of Haiti. Ask what He would have you do. Then in obedience to His call, act. Give. Help. Pray.