As I was celebrating my 48th birthday on January 15, an 11-year-old girl from Port-au-Prince, Haiti was ushered into eternity. Now I understand that life and death occur every minute of every day, but the circumstances of this little girl’s death have really gripped me.
This little girl had been trapped, all alone for three days before rescuers finally heard her cries for help. Her right leg was crushed and held her pinned beneath tons of rubble. Upon being discovered, the girl was conscious, able to eat and drink, and was able to talk to her rescuers as they worked to free her. After hours of digging, they were able to free her from the rubble, but sadly, just one hour later, she died from her injuries. Her last words spoken were, “Mother, don’t let me die.”
This story has broken my heart. Maybe it’s partly due to the fact that I have a 9-year-old little girl who will turn 10 in a few months, and I’ve tried to imagine what it would be like if it was my daughter who was trapped, alone, afraid, and in pain. My heart aches for this little girl and her family.
The earthquake that shook Haiti is over, but the aftershock is being felt all over the world. This little girl is just one of hundreds of thousands of stories that could be told by people whose lives have been turned up-side-down. But now, here’s the point of my article…don’t miss it…As we sit in our comfortable homes with our families, let us not, because of our own personal comfort, forget the second greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). Don’t allow this opportunity to minister in the name of Jesus to pass you by without doing what you can to help your neighbor.
There are some things that I’m sure run through the minds of every preacher, but they are suppressed by our better judgment before they are ever spoken. For me, one of those unspoken thoughts occurs every Sunday prior to Christmas. I always find myself suppressing the urge to say, “Good to see everyone today. I hope to see some of you again next Sunday, and for the rest of you, I’ll see you on Easter.” — (See why those thoughts need suppressing?)
I was going to give this $100,000 dollar bill away to the 100,000th visitor to my website. However, there was just one problem. I didn’t know the identity of the 100,000th visitor any more than I knew whose picture was on the $100,000th dollar bill. But whoever the 100,000th visitor was, and whoever all the other 99,999 visitors were, I want to thank you!
This past weekend, Sony released Roland Emmerich’s thriller about a global cataclysm that is scheduled to take place in 2012. With the release of this movie (which I have not seen, nor will see due to the language) we will be hearing more and more about speculations of 2012 being the end of the world.