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Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the LORD: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street. Lamentations 2:19
I read a fair number of blogs of people from my faith community. Being overseas, we don't get to sit through a lot of teaching on Sunday mornings so I look for input in other ways. I read blogs ranging from people doing amazing medical work in Africa, to people advocating homeschooling and stay at home moms. I read blogs of people who are somewhat cynical of the current state of our faith and those who are having true and deep life changing thoughts about the role of faith in our lives. Recently I've been a little weary of blogs and this quote by Rob Bell expresses why.
"...so the world is an emergency. It’s on fire. It’s drowning. It’s an absolute crisis, and when followers of Jesus can think of nothing better to do with their time than to pick apart and shred to pieces the work of other followers of Jesus who are trying to do something around the world, that’s tragic, and I don’t owe those people anything. How a person would have energy to take shots at other Christians is just mind-boggling. You have to be so totally disconnected from the pain of the world to think that blogging is somehow a redemptive use of your time."
I blog to keep friends and family updated on our life in China. I blog to show some of the wonderful things and some of the hard things. I hope writing the blog is a redemptive use of my time....but there certainly are more important things.
The picture above is one of the hard things. A team who does medical work in the orphanage was able to have this little guy removed and put into foster care. At 11 months old, he is under 7 lbs and is in a critical medical crisis. A single woman who all ready has a foster son and a full time teaching job has taken him in.
It's not the first time that I have seen this but it is very sobering and makes me want to do more.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1:27
4 comments:
This is such a hard picture to see. As a foster mom and as a human being. Thank God he was found and can be taken care of now.
If blogging is not to tear down, but to inspire, to encourage, to share hope, to be honest and inspire honestly and trust in God through the difficult, it is not a waste. If blogging is to show the world a face which it has not seen or considered, it is not a waste. You just did that here.
By the way, I know that face - of the starved baby. Someone delivered one into our hands years ago... so familiar, so haunting. Yes, he lived and is well today... yet I miss him deeply after fostering him for one year.
Preach.
I don't think this picture will ever leave my mind. Thank you for putting such a precious human face on reality. You are, of course in my prayers and you minister to him in the most needed and practical way. x
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