Do you care? Or are you indifferent?

I must admit when I first heard of the earthquake in Haiti, it was just another news story to me. Like the wildfires of California or the tsunami in Indonesia. Just another natural disaster beyond our control. I was completely apathetic.

Then I read the stories like the one of a couple leaving for Haiti to adopt a daughter. They were told to stay home because their daughter died. I saw the pictures. And my heart broke.

According to the CIA website, “Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80% of the population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty.” The trials the Haitians face every day because of their financial situation are unimaginable to most of us. The earthquake has multiplied their challenges. The sick and wounded can’t go to the hospital for help – because there is no hospital. They can’t go home – because they either didn’t have a home before, their homes were destroyed or fear of damaging after shocks make their homes unsafe. The devastation affected everyone in Haiti – the rich and the poor. The International Red Cross estimates a third of the country’s 9 million people may need emergency aid.

How does this affect you and me? For me, the earthquake is a wake-up call. It is shaking up my apathetic heart as severely as the ground shook in that nation. I cannot remain in a state of numbness, thinking my routine and the tasks on my to-do list are important. In life’s grand scheme, the earthquake and suffering in Haiti help me realize what’s important and what deserves my energy.

It also helps me see that pain and suffering are universal. No one escapes them, regardless of how it appears on the outside. The ground is level in this regard, just as it is at the foot of the cross. God sees everyone’s trials. He knows our heartache and our wounds. He loves us all through the difficult days.

I’m also drawn to pray for physical, emotional and spiritual healing of the Haitians; for supplies and skills of the relief workers; for God’s love and healing to work in this situation; and that we would all see what’s truly important in our own lives.

How does this situation affect you?

For additional perspective, check out:
Feed My Starving Children
A message from Wess Stafford of Compassion International
Crave Something More
Christian Post
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