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While I played on my computer, a young girl died in Indiana.
She was 10 years old.
A friend had e-mailed me asking me to pray... there was an “Amber alert” for this young girl and she had been missing for 2 days already.
I had said a quick, “Lord, be with her” and mumbled something or other that I don’t even recall now. I clicked on the next e-mail... or surfed to my favorite website.
I played on my computer. I wrote a story. I hoped I won the writing contest!
That was last week. Today is my birthday. I began celebrating this morning at 12:30 a.m. My friend IMed me and told me the young girl had been found. She was dead. Happy Birthday.
I immediately began to feel convicted about my lack of participation in praying for her. As though my guilt is any solace for her family. They have no idea how her death affects me. They don’t even know I exist. Their child is violently gone. How could a stranger’s guilty compassion console them? Who do I think I am?
"Lord, I am sorry."
Last week, a young woman from Tyler TX was abducted from a parking lot and taken 400 miles away and killed.
The day after Christmas, hundreds of thousands of people died when the tsunami fell from the sea and swept them away. Millions of lives changed in an instant.
Every day in my small town, people go hungry, children are abused, and the lost remain lost.
The sick are dying. The lost remain lost.
It is overwhelming, Lord. It is more than I can comprehend or get my mind around.
What can I do?
How can I help?
“Lord, be with them,” I pray, hoping this is enough.
It’s not.
He requires more.
“You go and be with them,” He says. “Show them love. Feed my sheep.”
“How do I do this?” I ask, somewhat perplexed.
“Go out on a limb...” says the one who created the tree.
“Where? What limb? I don’t see a limb,” I reply trying to distract Him with a bit of wit.
“Yes. You do,” comes His humorless answer. There is no laugh. He is growing weary with my procrastination, I know. He is thinking, “I guess I will have to find someone else. She is going to take a bit more work.”
Suddenly I understand! “Oh! That limb! Yes Lord... I will go, but will You help? I’m a little afraid of heights and not sure what to do once I get there.”
Now He laughs! “Don’t you know I am with you always?”
So... here I go. First step.. Baby step. Into my small town where there are people who are hungry, children abused, and souls lost.
“Lord.. Be with me,” I pray.
It is enough.
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