The least of our brothers

I was in a earthquake when I was just a little kid living in California. I was standing in the kitchen when it hit and I remember all of our dishes were falling out of the cupboard and the house was swaying back and forth. When it quit swaying enough to beat it out of there, my mom, brother and I all ran outside to escape. It lasted only minutes, but seemed like an eternity. It was quite a frightening experience, terrifying really, and after that experience I was never keen on living in California again.

I don’t remember what that earthquake registered on the Richter scale, but it was not anywhere near the catastrophic 7.0 earthquake that leveled Haiti. I can only imagine the terror that those folks endured when it hit. I read somewhere that the earthquake that just occurred there could be compared to three nuclear bombs simultaneously going off.

Now the suffering has set in and the world will try to respond and quickly bring aide and relief to this already impoverished land. As I write these words, people are trapped under fallen debris, scared out of their wits as they stare into the black dark; they are thirsty, exhausted and are literally fighting for their lives. Wherever you are sitting at the moment please join me and pray for them, (right now won’t you?) Ask the Lord to comfort them and calm their terrified spirits. Ask Jesus to empower leadership to efficiently organize the search and rescue mission and to enable rescue workers to find these poor souls in time to save their lives. Pray for a miracle.

Unfortunately I’m afraid that short of a miracle, help will not arrive in time for many due to the logistical nightmare of transporting equipment and aid such as water and other life sustaining items to the millions of people that were affected. The roads are filled with debris from the quake and there probably isn’t much equipment in this tiny impoverished country that is capable of clearing the roads and even if there was they would need fuel to power them and on and on. Sigh…

The United States is already mobilizing and help is already on its way and many other countries throughout the world are reacting similarly. We as Christians want to help individually as well, but how do we go about it?

Haiti is a very poor country and many who live there survive on as little as $1 per day. These desperately poor people already had basic needs for food, clothing, and water, and now that need is desperate. Most of the aide organizations will ask for donations and I intend to donate to one of them and hope you will join me.

We should be cautious in how we handle our donations however; Haiti’s leadership has long been corrupt and the small country has a robust lawless element. One reason the country is so impoverished is because of the corruption. Looting began almost immediately and one large prison was damaged and 1000 criminals are rumored to have escaped and are now roaming the streets. Somehow law and order will have to be restored, or the thugs will end up with the aide.

Text messages asking for donations are now circling the world. Many are legitimate and many are not, and the media has already warned those of us who want to help to beware. I’m researching it now. I want my dollars to get to the people who are suffering and not to some criminal, or ad agency in New York, or high flying non-profit organization that has an administrator who makes more than I do.

I believe it is important to help however we can. I remember Mother Teresa being asked how she could work with those tortured souls in India many of whom had leprosy. She was holding a frail emaciated dying person in her arms and she turned to the reporter and answered something to the effect of, “I can see the face of Jesus when I look into their eyes”.

How appropriate a message to keep in mind as we get out our checkbooks and/or hop on a plane in a few weeks to spend time as a missionary


Mat. 25:34
“Then I, the King, shall say to those at my right, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, into the Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me water; I was a stranger and you invited me into your homes; naked and you clothed me; sick and in prison, and you visited me.’
“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Sir, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you anything to drink? Or a stranger, and help you? Or naked, and clothe you? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’

“And I, the King, will tell them, ‘When you did it to these my brothers you were doing it to me!’ Then I will turn to those on my left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry and you wouldn’t feed me; thirsty, and you wouldn’t give me anything to drink; a stranger, and you refused me hospitality; naked, and you wouldn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’

“And I will answer, ‘When you refused to help the least of these my brothers, you were refusing help to me.’ “And they shall go away into eternal punishment; but the righteous into everlasting life.”