Usually when I hear of catastrophes I tend to remain relatively unaffected. I wish it didn't happen, but it just never really affects me that much. Usually the media overplays it, and I get tired of hearing about it. That's how I usually feel about earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis.
I love Yahoo. I particularly like their stories that they have on their home page. I love browsing those and reading them, so when I saw a link for pictures of the destruction that happened in Japan, I clicked on it. At first I was mildly intrigued. Pretty crazy stuff! Wow. Should have bought American SUV's and trucks, huh? Those little Japanese cars just didn't cut it when the tsunami and earthquake hit. My perspective totally changed when I saw the pictures that you will see below the first two. I couldn't help it, I just started to cry. Can you imagine what those people are going through right now?
It hit me then. It hit me how selfish I am. How easy it is for me to live in my comfortable life and not think to far beyond my self or those immediately surrounding me. "Glad it happened there and not here," I caught myself thinking.
As I was looking in a new-found fascination at the pictures of peoples lives being destroyed. I begin to think about how I would feel that was my next door neighbor, or my sister, or my mother.
I was listening to my music on my phone on shuffle. At that moment, the song, "You Hold Me Now," came on. I pray for those hundreds of thousands of God's children that had their lives completely altered by this catastrophe that they will find hope in this tragedy and that the God who made them and loves them so much will hold them in His arms and that they will turn to Him!
If you are like me, remember to care. Remember to pray. Remember to care beyond yourself a little. Let it all sink in. And when the bottom falls out of your life like it fell out of theirs, remember that we have a God who is there for us through everything and a hope for a life that will be free of all the pain of this world.
