Probably like you, I've experienced in a gut-wrenching, visceral way the pictures and stories that have poured out of earthquake stricken Haiti over the past week. Heartrending images of human suffering are difficult to slough off... even if you are thousands of miles away and living in a country that appears light-years removed in terms of economic and social structures. Haunting me are questions like these: "What can I do?" "What's the response that I, as a Christ-follower living in Abilene, Texas, can make in the middle of this mind-boggling morass of pain and suffering?"Then last night about 6:45 p.m. there's a knock at my front door. A young black man in dirty clothes, but with an orange tie carefully knotted around his green knit shirt, is standing on my porch. As I flip on the light and open the door I'm thinking, "What in the world is this guy doing knocking on doors in my neighborhood after dark?!"
Shaking my hand and maintaining eye contact, the young man launches into his spiel... he's out to improve his leaderships skills and his means of doing so is selling magazine subscriptions... at which point he thrusts a wrinkled sheet of the periodicals he can make available to me for purchase. I glance at the sheet and don't recognize a single magazine on the list.
His spiel finished, the young man casts me a plaintive glance as if to acknowledge that there isn't a single publication on his sheet worth spending one's money on. I smile and tell him that I appreciate his leadership skills, but I'm not in need of any more magazines. He shakes his head indicating he understands, and then sticks out his hand for a parting handshake.
As I take his hand, my nostrils are greeted by the odor of the sweat and grime that have accumulated on him as he's pounded the pavement this day. Gripping my hand, the young man says, "I sure would appreciate a prayer on my behalf... it's hard out here." And I prayed over him.
Turning, he steps off my porch into the evening's deepening darkness. And I thought: "What can I do?" "What's the response that I, as a Christ-follower living in Abilene, Texas, can make in the middle of this mind-boggling morass of pain and suffering?"
Should I empty my pockets, closets and pantry?
Should I sell all that I possess and give it to the poor?
I don't have answers, but I'm trusting that answers will come... and that there will be benefit in the struggle to find those answers.
