I have actually visited Haiti. I preached my first sermon while on a missions trip to Haiti. A friend from college was the translator. His family has a great ministry in Haiti. They work through a church. They have a clinic. They start schools. I don't think that they were affected by the earthquake (based on the reports of where it hit), but I really don't know.
What can we do to help the victims of this incredible earthquake? As citizens of America, we can be glad that some of our tax dollars will probably end up helping this relief effort. As individuals and churches we can donate funds to organizations that are quickly mobilizing to help the relief effort (such as this one-http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/About/FinancialSupport/DisasterRelief.aspx ). But most important (and probably most obvious), as Christians we have the privilege and responsibility of praying to our sovereign God and asking Him to intervene powerfully in this situation. Most of us won't be able to go to Haiti to help. Most of us are unable to give large sums of money. But every follower of Jesus has the opportunity of making a difference through prayer. I encourage you to take a moment now to pray for the people of Haiti. And I encourage you to make the people of Haiti an ongoing request of your prayer time.
good suggestion...I will do it now.
ReplyDeleteDave, I would love to know what you think of Pat Robertson's comments regarding Haiti. I'm not sure what I think of what he said, but I think the timing was wrong. Pat D.
ReplyDeleteTaken at face value, the comments seem pretty bad. The reporting that I've heard says that his comments are that the earthquake is God's judgement on Haiti for it's sin. But I've also read that the comments need to be seen in greater context, and that they were actually made while he was raising money for the relief effort. Since I'm preaching on the book of Job this Sunday, I've been reminded again that bad things don't always happen as judgement against sin. God is sovereign. He works all things according to His perfect purposes. We don't always understand why He allows things to happen, but we should trust in Him because He is good and does good. If nothing else, I think it is clear that Robertson's comments were poorly timed. When people are hurting, we need to be there to help them. Sometimes our help might be to warn them about judgement. But that type of help will usually come after the more practical help of rescuing the people who are trapped in buildings that have collapsed.
ReplyDeleteHere's a review of the subject by someone much smarter than I am:
ReplyDeletehttp://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/01/14/does-god-hate-haiti/