The earthquake in Haiti has made a greater impact on me than previous natural disasters in a distant land. Perhaps it's because I lived through the terror of hurricane Wilma (during my honeymoon, no less), so I've see how a large natural disaster can affect people, real people. Perhaps it's because of social media and the numerous status updates and tweets I've seen about Haiti. All of the sudden, what happened on the news became really personal when I saw how many of my friends had been to Haiti, had invested in Haiti, knew people or ministries in Haiti, etc. and had been affected. The world just got a little smaller.
I've always heard that America is the most generous country, and even in our time of economic low points, I still believe we'll prove to be the most generous nation. Already I have heard so many different options for giving to help the people of Haiti; but giving to help in a time of natural disaster is not something that I have personally ever participated in. It always unnerved me to send an amount of money into the great unknown and hope that it actually landed somewhere that made a difference. And, of course, we all hear about the greedy people who take advantage of America's compassion and scam people of out money . . . so I have never given.
But that changes now. My friend from ORU, Casey, has family running a ministry down in Haiti. His status updates have given concrete facts about what is going on down there. For example, today he wrote: "My family takes care of 70 malnourished kids at a time. My sisters says food prices have doubled since yesterday. Many Haitian people didn't have enough money to eat before. It is a tough situation. Please continue to pray and give through whatever avenues possible."
His sister who is in Haiti has a blog that she is updating frequently. Please check it out. Also, there is a PayPal button on the blog which allows you to give to help in their cause. For the first time in my life, I'm going to give to help a nation in need. And with my money goes my heartfelt prayers as well. I challenge you to do the same. Find a way to give. And if you're like me and haven't given before, make this your first time.
No comments:
Post a Comment