Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Cyclone in Myanmar

My day started by exercising with my next door neighbor. She had the news on when I came and we saw the footage of the cyclone damage in Myanmar. We heard the number, 22, 467 died, which we replayed to make sure that we had heard correctly.

It's true, in one big storm, tens of thousands of people died.
The destruction is massive, water everywhere, but suddenly water is unsafe to drink. Trees on top of houses, so hundreds of thousands of people are homeless. Roads are blocked by downed trees and overturned houses so rescuers are struggling to get to the crisis.

It's easy to think, "Where is Myanmar?" and pass of this suffering.

But, the opportunity to pray for God's presence to be increased in this very isolated country is very real. The ruling junta, an authoritative regime has cut Myanmar off from the international community for decades. Perhaps this storm will open the door to this country so healing comes forth and dramatic change takes place.

My dream for Missio Lux is for us to respond to these crisis' with compassion, prayer and action. My dream is that we can have a presence through our response of prayer and action in more crisis' than not. In order to do that, we must develop a global heart for the world and a local heart for the people that are in our lives. We must realize the jewel that lies within us, God's heartbeat, and intentionally experience and share the freedom and hope that Jesus offers with everyone...both next door and around the world. That includes Myanmar. How will God use us? Let's dream big and act big.

No comments: