Pastor's Message
Significant emotional events, we all have them sooner or later.
According to what I learned in school, significant emotional events are those times in our lives that make us re-think our direction in life. Sometime they are highly personal like the lost of a loved one or a bout with cancer. Sometimes they are national like the explosion of the Space Shuttle or the 9/11 attack. Sometimes they are a picture of a tragedy. I remember growing up in Copiague, N.Y and seeing the forced starvation of people in a place called Biafra and remember thinking that is not right and I must take steps to the best of my ability to ensure those things never happen again. That was one of the reasons I joined the military and spent a good part of my life in the service of our Democracy.
For some people this week, the pictures of the disaster in Haiti have brought them to a significant emotional event. I see three things that can be garnered from looking at the situation in Haiti.
1. If we think life is bad for us, Haiti is a reminder that it can definitely be worse. Even before the earthquake, the average Haiti lived on about $2 a day. The day to day poverty in this little country is unimaginable and the lifespan is about half of ours. We may find ourselves in tough economic times and our savings may not be what they were just two years ago but we are far better off than others. We should have a renewed thankfulness for what we now have.
2. If we believed that we could not have an impact on the World as Christ followers, Haiti shows us that we have more work than ever to do. I was listening to a network news program where the reporter was showing the pandemonium at one of the state run aid stations in Port Au Prince and contrasting it with the well run, orderly aid stations just a few miles run by World Vision, a Christian aid organization. Groups like Samaritan’s Purse and World Vision are doing a bang up job as first responders. Now we can become denominational or we can get behind organizations that have the capacity to do God’s work now and not worry about who gets the credit. What we say and what we do within the body of Christ both positively and negatively are seen by the people around us who are watching how God's people will respond.
3. God has placed something inside every human being that calls us to do the right thing. Whether it is actors in Hollywood or Longshoreman in Hoboken, God has placed something – a spark – in all of us to respond to the needs around us. The Bible says that “we are fearfully and wonderfully made” right down to the empathy that Americans are showing right now.
This coming Sunday, we will be taking up a special offering for Haiti at Bealeton Baptist Church. Please join us as we worship God and be his hands and feet here on this Earth.
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