The news today tells of yet one more catastrophe in a country so close to our shores, a country with which I am familiar after many years of visits and ministry by our church.
A friend from Haiti wrote this morning and said, “We can’t take anymore.” But they will because the news tells us of an approaching hurricane ironically called ‘Grace’. Our friends there are becoming more hopeless.
I read an online comment this morning where someone wrote, “There but for the grace of God go we.” Not helpful and not correct. It sounds like God specially favors us because God spared us and not them.
My question is, “Where IS God in the midst of the calamities in Haiti?” As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from a prison cell before his execution, “Who is Christ, actually?”. He was asking what about the Jews and others who were killed by the Nazis. The same question could be asked for our Haitian friends. Does it mean the salvation of their souls as their homes tumble down on them and their children die of disease and hunger? That’s not God’s will. That’s evil against which Christ fought and for which he died. And it’s a battle to which we are called.
We are the hands and feet of Christ to reach out to those in dire straits. We are his body and we must show that to the world. There once was a leader who called Haiti a _____hole. But Christ calls them his beloved and God’s word says that the Lord is close to the needy and broken. And yes, of course that means anyone, anywhere. And I believe that our supernatural God takes every one of those souls into his eternal care, doing for them what we have not been able to do to give them life.
At this moment all I can do is offer my sympathy and prayer for those who suffer there and in so many parts of our world. And I know that Jesus weeps with everyone of those who hurt. He suffers with them. He dies with them. May we all offer ourselves to God in these moments.
When I first heard the song below, my heart broke. I wept.
Who Will Save The Children (Randy Stonehill)
Cry for all the innocent ones born into a world that’s lost its heart,
For those who never learn to dream because their hope is crushed before they can start,
And we shake our fists at the air and say, “If God is love, how can this be fair?”
But we are his hands, we are his voice,
We are the ones who must make the choice,
And if it isn’t now, tell me when?
If it isn’t you, then tell me who will save the children?
Who will save the children?
We count our blessings one by one, yet we have forgotten how to give,
It seems that we don’t want to face all the hungry and homeless who struggle to live,
But Heaven is watching tonight, tugging at our hearts to do what’s right.
But we are his hands, we are his voice,
We are the ones who must make the choice,
And if it isn’t now, tell me when?
If it isn’t you, then tell me who will save the children?
Save the children.
As we observe them through our TV screens, they seem so distant and unreal, but they bleed like we bleed and they feel what we feel.
Oh, save the children,
Oh, save the children,
Save the children.
Now we decide that nothing can change and throw up our hands in numb despair,
And we lose a piece of our souls by teaching ourselves just how not to care,
But Christ would have gone to the cross just to save one child from being lost.
And we are his hands, we are his voice,
We are the ones who must make the choice,
It must be now; there’s no time to waste,
It must be you; no one can take your place,
Can’t you see that only we can save the children?
Grace Matters 
George, Thank you so much for your response to the danger in Haiti. I have not been there since the 70’s, when my father flew me there in a single engine airplane to help me become free from an oppressor’s grip. He was my flying savior at that time. My prayers for Haiti join your own. God bless you my dear brother.
Linda
Dear George: I have been reading your “Grace Matters”, and have so often wanted to comment; just haven’t done it. My heart resonates with what you have written on other topics, and what you write here about Haiti. I too struggle with such a sense of helplessness. Too often I rise up in righteous indignation over social justice concerns, but then comfortably fall back into my life as usual as I let time drift and the sorrows fade until the next tragedy happens. I don’t like that about myself. May God’s balm of Gilead be poured out on all of His children, and especially the precious souls in Haiti. And also on you and your family. Keep shining Jesus’ light of love and grace to this wounded world. Your sister, Caren
And I weep with you brother.
My tears are my prayers.
And for so many other “- – -hole countries”.
“Nothing is going to change until we stop accepting this dirty rotten system.”
– Dorothy Day
And thank you