Weighing In (Mind and body)

I'm long overdue in weighing in. It's not my favorite thing to blog about, but the support and accountability is encouraging. And so I step on the scale on Wednesdays (some weeks in dread).

But weighing in today in light of the utter devastation in Haiti seems trivial. Or maybe flaunting. Because the fact that I weigh in while fighting my food struggles seals the deal that I am wealthy compared to some 90% of the world. Yes, me in my middle class life. I'm somewhat of a millionaire compared to about 9 out of 10 people in the world today. And my "few extra pounds" today is rather convicting to me in my excesses. See, I can afford the extra food.

But much of the world can't. And yesterday an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hit Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Thousands upon thousands of homes were reduced to piles of rubble. It's bad folks, it's really, really bad. This is a disaster beyond what we can comprehend with our comfortable world. The news reports are grim. And our church has ties there, families that are living in children's homes, serving as family to many orphans, and the reports from them are heartbreaking. (Thankfully all are accounted for with minor injuries). To make matters worse, there is no infrastructure in Haiti to deal with a crisis of this magnitude. It would be bad enough if it happened here, but for our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean, there is no governmental "declaration of disaster" to help rebuild. Parliament has collapsed, the UN building has collapsed, the tourist hotels have collapsed (tourism is a considerable part of the economy), and frighteningly enough, so has the national penitentiary, freeing hardened criminals to the streets.

If you know me (or even if you've been reading for a while) you know that my heart is with the orphans of the world. This situation is likely going to create many more. And at the moment I'm feeling pretty helpless. Because our family with our limited resources can't do much. But we can do our part. In fact, just the readers of Fireworks and Fireflies together can make a difference! There are 73 of you as "followers" in the sidebar, (and I suspect about 40 to 50 more of you out there cause of how much the counter jumps each day). If each of us were to give just $10 to a charity that we trust in order to reach out a hand in Christian love in this crisis, we'd have at least $740. That much money in a third world country can go a long way in life saving medicine. And that's with just passing up on a fast food meal this week, that's not going into "sacrificial" mode. Just Sunday our pastor challenged us to be asking God specific questions about His will for our lives and listening while trusting that He cares and has wisdom for us. And one of the things he mentioned as examples was, "Seeking how He wants me to decrease my comfort in order to increase my generosity." In other words, storing up my treasures in Heaven rather than here on Earth. What kind of difference could we make together then?

If you are so inclined, would you please consider checking out the following links to emergency aid and donating what you can. Or even more than what you can, but what you can find a way to give?

Samaritan's Purse

World Vision

Red Cross

Buckner International

Dillion International Adoption

Mercy Corps

Food for the Hungry

SOS Children's Villages

Tasty Kitchen The Pioneer Woman is going to donate ten cents to the Haiti earthquake recovery efforts for every person who enters (all you have to do is tell your favorite flavor of ice cream) to win a kitchen aid mixer. I just entered and was number 3,974...

I pray that together we can reach out a comforting arm despite the tough economic times many have been facing! If there is a charity that you know of that is worthy of mention, please leave a comment so I can include it.

And whether or not you contribute financially, please stop today to pray for the thousands, already poor and vulnerable, in a country that just crumbled.