Suffering

A few times a week I browse cnn.com to see what’s going on in the world. I just finished watching a video about refugees in the Congo, where there is horrible violence going on. Children are being taken directly from their schools and forced to be on the front lines fighting against their government. If they turn back in fear, they will be shot immediately. I’m left speechless.

It’s one of those things I typically have a hard time wrapping my mind around. It seems so distant and because of that distance—almost unreal. However, I now know two refugees here in HK that have left the Congo in hopes of finding refugee here. I now have faces to put to this suffering. I now have had the opportunity to travel to many places in the world and witness the fact that so many people live in desperate situations from day to day. To walk through roads in Cambodia where families of 5 or 6 people are living in a small hut about 8 ft. by 8 ft., with tarps for the ceiling and walls and a few pieces of bamboo for the floor, is a humbling experience. Seeing children who go to schools with absolutely no supplies—let alone electricity—yet have an eagerness and excitement for learning, makes me realize I am so blessed. I am blessed beyond my wildest imagination! And because of the fact that clean, running water, electricity, a comfortable home, food whenever I’m hungry, and many other luxuries are so normal for me, I all too often quickly forget that so much of the world lives a very different way.

So much of the world lives in fear. So much of the world lives in uncertainty of what tomorrow will bring.

I think it’s great and absolutely right to be thankful for the situation that God’s placed us in, but more than thankfulness is necessary. I believe as Christ-followers we are called to act. Some may be called to give of their time to serve these people or fight for their rights. Some may be called to give money to help organizations who are working to improve their lives. We are all called to pray.

However, sometimes it’s praying that is so difficult when it comes to unjust situations. I know that God has a plan for suffering, but as a human, I don’t always understand it. I don’t think I’m supposed to. I serve a God God who says (Isaiah 55:8-9),

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"…
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

I must have child-like faith and seek to be Jesus’ hands and feet in this world during the days I’m given.