I'm speechless! I hate watching the news recently; it always breaks my heart and leaves me feeling depressed. Wow! That's basically all I have to say while my mouth hangs open and my eyes flood with tears as I watch and hear of destruction happening around the world. Earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, war, disrupt...I could continue on, but I think you get the point.
As I watched the news on Friday, my heart was torn into pieces. I could not believe the destruction I saw, and I was overcome by fear for the lost souls that may not have made it out alive. As I stood at McDonalds Friday evening waiting on friends to order dinner, I heard a man behind me say, "Maybe this will humble that nation." I could not believe what I was hearing. I could have turned around and screamed at this man and gave him an earful of the pain I was feeling. However, I chose to keep quiet and pray for his soul.
Later, after pondering this man's comment, I became outraged and filled with conflicting emotions. Still saddened by the destruction in Japan, my emotion turned angry. How could this man say such a thing? Does he think we here in the U.S. are humble? How could he watch such tragedy and only think of a nation being humbled? How would he react if this same destruction occurred in the United States? Maybe the U.S. needs another tragedy to humble our nation! Yes, I really did just say that.
Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful God has thus far spared our nation from great destruction. However, I believe that the recent events around the world are only the beginning of the end. I'm not saying the end will happen this year, next year, or even 5 years down the road, but I believe it isn't too far off. The Gospels speak of events leading up to the end, many of which are occurring on some level today. We see it in Matthew 24:7, Mark 13:8, and Luke 21:10. Read them for yourself.
On top of all this, I caught myself grumbling many times yesterday about the time change and how it was effecting my sleep schedule, my day, etc. I didn't realize it until the day was near over how pathetic my grumbling was. There are people in serious pain and suffering great loss half a world away, yet I chose to sit and whine about the time change and how it was ruining my groove.
God forgive me for my selfish ignorance. Help me to care less about myself and more about those suffering around me. Make me an effective minister of your love, grace, and forgiveness. Work in my life, and help me not to turn a blind eye to the lost. Open doors I never imagined, and give me boldness to walk through them without hesitation. Amen.
Such honest thoughts, Jess, thanks for sharing these. I think many of us have (hopefully) had the same thoughts in the last several days. One of my kids asked yesterday if I thought the end of the world was near. All I could say was....it could be....in your lifetime. The, I had to think throughout history (the history teacher in me) and had to wonder how many people in history thought their times were the end.....but the natural disasters seem to be increasing. They humble anybody who thinks we, humans, have the ownership of the world.
ReplyDeleteMy heart has been heavy, too. Thanks for sharing your thoughts in writing!