As the global community has been deployed to provide relief to the people and land of Haiti, we still wrestle with troubling questions regarding this calamity. The fact is, we respond to world tragedies with deep, unsettling questions, don’t we? The earthquake in Haiti caused my kids to ask questions like these: Why do mind-staggering tragedies like this happen? If God is strong and powerful and loving and close, couldn’t he have prevented the devastation in Haiti? Is God punishing the people of Haiti in some way? Are the people in Haiti more unrighteous than thousands of murderers, rapists and thieves in the world, that something like this would happen to them? These questions are legitimate, but they inch me and all of us away from an appropriate personal response to world tragedy. I think I can respond appropriately to world tragedies by answering several important personal questions that Luke 13:1-9 raises – questions of mortality, eternity, and productivity.

The first question is a question of Mortality: How close am I to the end of my life?

Luke chronicles two historical events to show how indiscriminate death is. One event accounts for the evil of one man can exact on another human being. Pilate had some Galileans killed while they worshiped.  These people died at the hands of an evil man. Evil people do evil things to innocent people.

The other event (which has greater relevance to the tragedy in Haiti) shows how death can happen naturally. A tower in Siloam fell and killed 18 people. Many were caught beneath the rubble, hoping and praying for someone would intervene and bring relief and rescue. Our fallen world is filled with such tragedies that break our hearts over and over again. Tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes are natural catastrophes that snatch lives out of this world each year and destroy miles and miles of valuable property. This event was so unlikely, but it happened. It was a natural disaster. Haiti has experienced one natural disaster after another. That one nation can experience so much natural disaster seems unlikely, but it has happened. This was a natural disaster. People die in natural disasters all the time, but it does not make them more sinful than anyone else.

The issue here is not the timing of death or even the cause of death. The issue is that we are mortal beings and we will all die.  We love to talk about others’ deaths and tragedies just as long as it doesn’t get too personal. World tragedy is a prime opportunity for us to discuss our own mortality. Nothing is so certain as death, and nothing is so uncertain as the hour of our death. We will die, either by some horrific calamity, evil plot, cancer, car accident, or some natural cause.  Most of us are not afraid to die; we just don’t want to be there when it happens. In light of this world tragedy, let us consider the question of our own mortality – How close am I to the end of my life?

If death was the end, then I think we could possibly live with that. I mean, we have lived a decent life, made a little money, enjoyed family and friends, and had some good times. But the question of Mortality causes me to consider a second question (next post) – a question of Eternity.

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As I got news yesterday about the earthquake in Haiti and eventually saw images and heard reports about the casualties, my heart was paralyzed. I mean, I thought about . . . .

The devastation

The rubble

The bodies

The blood

The fear in people’s eyes

The poverty

The absence of food, water and shelter

The uncertainty that comes with nightfall

The staggering number and volume of the loss of life

What could I do amidst so much death and disaster? Maybe you feel the same way. You know, feeling paralyzed because the situation seems so hopeless,  and you wonder how can your little contribution help the situation. This is often the case when tragedy strikes, and it is so overwhelming that we don’t know what to do. In not knowing what to do, we settle for doing nothing and idle hearts and hands can only make things worse. Well, I don’t want you to let emotional paralysis prevent you from doing something. Do something! What Haiti needs now is our prayers and monetary resources.

Here is a list of legitimate organizations to which you can give. Also, my good friend Milan Ford is donating a percentage of the proceeds from his recently published best-selling book. Purchase a copy for the thought-provoking content, but also because your purchase will help bring relief to the devastation in Haiti.

Here are some other things you can do:

1. Fast during lunch, breakfast or dinner (or all three meals), and spend that time praying for the people in Haiti.
2. Take a portion of the money you would have spent on clothes, a new tech toy, or groceries and donate it to one of the organizations listed
3. Turn your next small group, elders or management team meeting into a call to action
4. Pray with and for Haitian-born U.S. citizens
5. Pray for wisdom and strength for pastors, priest and missionaries who are attempting for serve and comfort
6. Talk with your kids about the devastation and have them pray for the kids in Haiti
7. Volunteer to go and be part of the ground relief team (I’m thinking and praying about that and talking it over with Tonia)

Don’t let this moment pass without you and your family engaging. God is near the brokenhearted and he comes near them through us.

Do something!

What are some other ways you can help bring comfort and relief to the people and land of Haiti?

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Recently, I spoke to some Christian athletes. I asked them how did they normally respond to hardships (torn ACL/ MCL/PCLs, loneliness, being ridiculed for their faith). They responded: fear, anger, “why me?”, self pity, aggression, despair, turning to abusive behavior, apathy, and turning to God. I told them they were carriers – carriers of pain, so they could ultimately be carriers of comfort. Just as I encouraged these athletes, Paul encouraged a group of believers in a town called Corinth.

He reminded them that afflictions were inevitable for the follower of Jesus. Many were being persecuted, imprisoned, and oppressed by unbelievers – all because their relationship with Jesus. But, Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that, in the midst of their trouble, God was their source of divine help. He would come to their side and help them to have godly responses. Then Paul gave two purposes why God allowed suffering: so, they could experience direct and personal comfort from God, and then from that experience, give God’s comfort to others (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). God allowed affliction and brought divine comfort so that the Corinthians might have the capacity to enter into another person’s pain, affliction and sorrow and bring comfort to them.

As we experience sufferings, affliction and pain of all kinds – physical, spiritual, emotional – let us remember that God will bring direct and personal divine comfort to us through his word, by the Holy Spirit and through fellow believers. Thus we are CARRIERS of pain, so we can ultimately be CARRIERS of COMFORT – God’s comfort. Sometimes we carry God’s comfort with consoling words and other times words are inadequate and get in the way. Thus, we must carry God’s comfort by the ministry of presence.

We are not comforted by God to be comfortable. Nor are we comforted by God to become consumers and connoisseurs of God’s comfort; we are comforted by God to be comforters. God comforts us so we can be CHANNELS and CARRIERS of COMFORT.  

How has this been true of you lately? How can your suffering and God’s comforting you through it, help you empathize with others? 

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1. Repent of our stinginess and be more generous 
2. Use food wisely at parties, reunions and open houses (take extra or leftover food to a homeless shelter) 
3. Have a family garage sale and give the proceeds to a cause fighting poverty, shelter or food bank
4. Serve at a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen, as a family
5. Meet and get to know people of all socioeconomic levels
6. Make one “poor meal” a month in your home (eat a very, very, very simple meal to remind your family that for many people such a meal is not an unpleasant reality that happens once a month. It is a way of life). 
7. Become actively involved in causes fighting and decreasing poverty – One, Samaritan’s Purse,, Plumpynut
8. Change your lifestyle – Live more simply
9. Start a family charity box or coffee can, where you put extra change, money you would spend for coffee or fast food. Each month determine what charity, shelter, or poor person the money will go to. 
10. Be homeless for a day or night
11. Adopt a child or children
12. Take a homeless person to dinner and actually sit and talk with him/her
13. Skip a weekly trip to the grocery store and donate money to a poor single mother, shelter, or food bank
14. Talk with your children about poverty and its affects
15. Avoid overconsumption
16. Fight injustice and oppression – in schools, among women, people of color, etc.
17. Get involved with Tabitha’s Closet 
18. Invite friends to watch a documentary on poverty and how it affects the futures of poor people
19. Give people what they really need and lack; don’t give stuff away just to be kind or to not feel guilty
20. Educate yourself on at least one aspect of poverty over the next month 

I know we will always have poor people in our world. This simply means we have more opportunities to bless them with our generosity. What are some other do you think we can make poverty history in our world? 

Don’t forget to leave a comment. Later this week I will let you know what organization we’ve chosen and how much we will be contributing. Thanks for your partnership. Grace and peace.

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I think at some point in our lives we have all heard the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10). Here is a summary of the story. A man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. This man fell among thieves. A priest comes by and a Levite comes by (both men should have helped him), but they pass on the other side. A Samaritan comes along and stops and helps the man. This was significant because Jews and Samaritans did not get along. The Samaritan in the one you would least expect to help the man. The Samaritan puts oil on his wounds, binds him, puts him on his donkey and takes him to a hotel. He tell the innkeeper that he will pay any additional expenses for the man on his way back. Before Jesus told the parable, he asked who is my neighbor, that is, who qualifies as worthy of neighborly acts. Then Jesus tells the story about a man who was in trouble and who is in need of a neighbor. Jesus tells the story so that it is a stupid person who is in trouble and in need. 

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