Change of plans ...

Well, it's Friday night, January 15th (although this probably won't get posted until early, early Saturday morning) and I've finished 8 days on my diet. Whew. And I had a bunch of stories I was going to blog about - mostly centering on how difficult it's been staying away from food that apparently has been responsible for an awful lot of comfort in my life, and how I have been on the verge of cracking up, etc. Trust me, it would have been hilarious ...

But complaining about anything in my life right now just took on a different patina, even if it is a vehicle for levity. Once again in my life I am struck by the burdens that God asks some people to carry while sparing others of us who lack even a practical comprehension of what it must be like to carry such heavy yokes.

Doesn't Haiti look about as bad as I can imagine a place getting? Ground zero for hopelessness and lack. Certainly by our standards it wasn't a highly desirable location before the earthquake, but now .... staggering. Raising a single peep of discontent with any condition in my life would be simply embarrassing, as would failing to send endless prayers of gratitude to God for sparing my family and me any such circumstances, so we'll talk about the diet another day when raising trivial matters will again be more acceptable.

You know, it just makes me cry that it takes a tragedy like this to make us all think about how we are all God's children, and how humans of all races and nations share so many more similarities than we do distinctions. Any parent reading this can sense what they would feel like if they lost children and grandchildren to some horrible event, and if we know anything about human kind, it is that we all share that same feeling. To watch a mother or father grieving in Haiti is to watch myself in the mirror should the same circumstances befall me. Their economic and geographic status have no effect on their basic humanity - until they are stripped away of all basic humanity and have to act in a level of self defense that I also do not relate to, either. When the shock gives way to desperation, I can imagine anyone acting without regard to social norm ... and I know I would. What would I do to get food for my family? I pray I'll never have to find out.

So Father, please hear my prayer. There is a mystery to life that I do not understand but that I know only You understand ... and the more I age, the more I see the value in that plan. You are God, the Great I AM, and I am just Bill, a fallen believer who understands that I am nothing without you. But tonight specifically, Lord, I pray that you shield Haiti from any worsening of their condition. Please Lord - tonight I pray the word "enough". I don't ask for personal revelation or understanding - I don't ask for renewal or uplifting ... not tonight, Lord. Tonight, Heavenly Father, I just ask you for a bottoming out of the experience for those affected by this tragedy. May tomorrow bring food and water, medical supplies and assistance, love and comfort to those incredibly needy people. May tomorrow be a starting place for a better day for the displaced children and the day when disaster workers start feeling less overwhelmed and more energized for the long task ahead. May the people sing your praises and thank you for the lives spared and the blessing of survival. May the sun rise on Haiti tomorrow, Lord, sending a beam of hope, and a knowledge that even in the destruction you still love them, as I know you do. Please, Lord, let the horrors be replaced by hope, and the pain be replaced by love. Please let the attitude of all concerned see today as the last day of darkness, and tomorrow as the first day of better days to come. And please, Lord, let the world see the value of coming together as one not only in times of tragedy. It shouldn't take a falling tower or a crumbling city for us to see the world as you would have us see it, and for the many times I am personally guilty of that, Lord, I ask your forgiveness. Thank you endlessly for the blessings you have bestowed on my family, and please hear how I love you and am honored beyond reason to consider that you love me, too. In Jesus precious name I pray, Amen.

We fall down ... we get up.
We fall down ... we get up.
And the Saints are just the sinners
Who fall down ... and get up.
- Bob Carlisle

Tomorrow we all start getting up, and lifting up, in the name of Jesus.

Blessings,
Bill