it IS my business

"You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge...., but you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Leviticus 19:18

I read in Our Daily Bread that in 1955, when the south was still highly segregated, Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, visited relatives in Mississippi. After Emmett "dared" to talk to a white woman, two white men brutally murdered him. An all-white, male jury found the two "not guilty" -after deliberating for barely and hour. The two men later confessed to the crime in a Life magazine article.
Following the verdict, Emmett's mother said, "Two months ago I had a nice apartment in Chicago. I had a good job. I had a son. When something happened to Negroes in the South, I said, 'That's their business, not mine.' Now I know how wrong I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all."

To love our neighbor means to make the persecution, suffering, and injustice of our fellow human beings our own. It is the business of all who follow Christ.

I think this was a perfect slap in the face for a day such as today, not only on the day in which we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. and all that he accomplished in his journey for the rights and freedom of colored folks, but also a day in which our neighbors in Haiti are suffering.
My heart has been heavy for everybody in Haiti. At first, I honestly didn't think much of the earthquake. I had heard something about it, and thought something like: "Oh that stinks- it must have been pretty big for so many people to be talking about it but all well, it's probably not that bad and not my problem." But the more I learn about what Haiti has been through with the multiple hurricanes that hit Haiti in such a short span of time not long ago and now this earthquake that has happened, and it's not just any little earthquake. It was MASSIVE! It has left so many dead, many trapped and so many more injured with very limited helpful resources. Haitians largest hospital has NO doctors or nurses to be found. Assumptions are that the doctors and nurses are dead, trapped or with their family. There are currently two non-Haitian doctors that have been trying with all of the very limited supplies they can find in the hospital to help as many people as they can. There is No Electricity and NO DRINKABLE WATER, No Food!!! The doctors are literally using any resources they can find or come up with such as rusty saws and tools to amputate and operate on patients. They ran out of rubbing alcohol and vodka that they were using to sterilize some of the tools they were using to operate and what not. I watched 60Minutes last night and was brought to tears, literally, because of the heartache from seeing and hearing how terrible of a situation this is in Haiti.
I'm also hurt by my first reaction to this, that I just brushed it off my shoulder as if it was no big deal. I was Wrong! It is a HUGE deal and we need to do something about it. I know a lot of you are praying and that is marvelous- I can't tell you how important prayer is right now, especially for a time such as this. But I think we can also do more than pray, we can take action as well and really make a difference. If you can donate anything it would be of great help. I am certain that there are plenty of organizations and places near you where you can donate money. Every penny helps, literally, even if you only have a couple cents in change it will help- Donate It. It was the woman who put only two coins into the offering who made a difference and was truly blessed, because it's not how much money she gave but with how much heart she gave when giving those two coins. Donate canned foods and such foods that don't need to be refrigerated and won't go bad or rot in a matter of a couple of days, water bottles filled with water, clothes, blankets, anything- just think of the most basic daily life necessities and donate them. I know there is not one of you reading this who cannot do one of the previously mentioned ideas to help our Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ. If there isn't a place near you taking donations, then start one.
Please help, that's all I'm asking that you take one small step in loving and serving your neighbors in Christ, and by this small step you're making a huge difference in the world- literally.
Thank you so much! Please continue to pray!
XO