Haiti: our neighbor in the midst of hardship

Of course, that may get nominated for understatement of the year, seriously, they call me Captain Obvious.  And yet, is it obvious to everyone whose witnessed recent events?  Some of us would rather look the other way, cross the street and keep on going with our own justifications; some of us would opt to never give the broken country of Haiti a second thought.  Howbeit, some justifications can sound extremely right in our ears: Celebrities should stop asking folks barely getting by to give and pony up some bucks themselves; we have so many problems in the US, why spend our resources somewhere else; even the ludicrous, God must be punishing them for making a pact with the devil.  There are none so blind as those who will not see.  And speaking of the blind, when the disciples asked Jesus if a blind man's calamity had come upon him because of his sin, Jesus gave them an emphatic, "No."  God may chastise us, but He does not bring natural disasters upon our heads to do so.  They are what they are, natural disasters.  And in this disaster, we have a choice: to be the Good Samaritan or to cross the road never looking back to help our neighbor in need.

Luke 10:30-35 
30 Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’

Some of us may start to hear of the things that have transpired in Haiti and right away cross the road, others may come and investigate or read about what's going on and give an "Aww, that's too bad", although I would hope that we who were charged to be Good Samaritans would give in some way, at least, more than just a heartfelt sentiment.  Prayer is a good place to start; the people of Haiti can definitely use our prayers.  Time, a moment to pass along a message of a place to donate, maybe in a Facebook status, an email, a tweet or even lending a helping hand in something more involved like volunteer work.  And yes, even donations, money makes the world go round, and sometimes people need more than just spiritual help, they need their physical needs meet too.

God dares us to out give him:
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.    -Malachi 3:10

We're not talking about some "name it and claim it" spiel.  Just a simple truth, you cannot out give God.  Nor are we talking about selling all your goods and giving everything you have to the people of Haiti, maybe just a dollar, maybe ten, and who knows, maybe God will pour out His blessings on us as a Nation once more.

One of the easiest ways to give is to help support the Red Cross relief effort in Haiti. Text "HAITI" to 90999 and a $10 donation will be made.

More options to support the relief effort:
Network for Good
Save the Children
World Harvest Missions Outreach