Happy Tuesday everyone. Time for some rambling. Today, the topic is heavy.
- Depending on how much news you take in (and what you consider news), you may or may not have an awareness that one of the largest humanitarian crises of our time currently affects the Middle East and Europe.
- Basically, civil war and ISIS have made life so miserable in Syria and other countries that people now risk life and health to find a better life elsewhere.
- Just look at that picture above. Look at it. It shows a refugee camp in Jordan.
- Imagine living there. Imagine your wife and kids (or your aging parents) trying to survive, relying on provision for basic food, water, and medical care.
- About 100,000 people live there. That’s Akron – living in makeshift tents. You can read a first hand account here.
- I’m unsure how you process these types of things. For me, I simply want to deny the reality. I can remember watching commercials for aid agencies as a young kid and wondering why people in other countries experienced such poverty.
- Today I wonder to myself and to God about why it has to be this way.
- But I can’t wish these things away. I can’t imagine a better world and bring it into reality.
- For so many, these camps and an unknown represent the only option today.
- I pray for governments and agencies. I pray for the spiritual well being of the refugees.
- I pray for practical ways to help.
- On tomorrow’s “Think and Act” article, I will explore some practical ways Western Christians can respond in a Biblical manner to an overwhelming crisis such as this.
- I have no desire to ease my conscience. I have no desire to make every American’s life miserable as we must force ourselves to think about how bad others have it all the time.
- But I do have a desire to act as a believer in Jesus Christ should. How should I love my neighbor? The one across the sea and fleeing for their life?
- Stay tuned.