Imagine, if you will, the following scenario. You are the Star Player in this picture. It revolves totally around you.
Here is the setup:
1. All, yes all, your politicians are in a government meeting. The city they are meeting in disappears in a blinding flash… so now there is no government support to call on. And you know it.
2. Now take a moment to picture in your mind your home. What it looks like and how you enjoy the comforts it brings; your bed, ahh love that comfortable bed to sleep on; The fridge to call upon when hungry; the lounge to sit and rest and maybe lazily watch some TV… Now move to the street you live on and see the homes in a row, picturesque? … then, imagine a birds eye view of the whole suburb. Climb higher and look to the North, South, East & West and see your city spread out as far as the eye can see. Picture it?
3. Now the ground begins to shake…it’s a catastrophic earthquake. So violent is the shaking that you are thrown to the ground…the noise is intense and the walls and ceiling begins to shatter and collapse all around you. Your heart is pounding as you scramble to the nearest exit. You don’t quite make it as the building collapses. A sharp pain shoots up your leg as debris crushes it. Your lungs are crying out for air as you choke on the dust of the once proud home, in which you lived, now settles in ruin. And you are trapped under it.
As you lay there in agony, the aftershocks terrifying you, you claw your way free. As you crawl out onto the street, the devastation becomes clear. An earthquake of unimaginable power has flattened every home as far as the eye can see. People are crying out in pain and anguish. There are many who haven’t been as fortunate as you to even survive.
You are in pain. Fear grips you still. Your instinct is to call for help.
But from whom…there is no phone. Your mobile has no signal. You cry out but no one answers.
Then it begins to dawn on you that everyone in your street is in the same predicament… you contemplate the same must be also in the suburb and citywide. How devastating it must be near the high rise buildings. You then recall there is no government to organise help…all the medical, police, and emergency agencies are not available to call on – they have been devastated too. The realisation hits you that there is no help.
Survival instinct acutely rises to the forefront. But without power lines there is no electricity, no water from burst pipes, no home to live in, no food as it lays sealed in the collapse home.
Can you sense the hopelessness?
Will anybody be able to help?
This is the situation in Haiti right now. It has been devastated by a 7.1 earthquake.
There is no functioning government right now to organise rescue, medical or any relief efforts. People are still attempting to rescue people by hand as there is no heavy equipment to help.
In just the capital of Port-au-Prince there are 2 million people homeless. With no water or electricity and the dead strewn on the streets and buried beneath rubble, the very real threat of disease is upon them.
How desperate is this worsening situation.
We live in a blessed nation… but what has happened to Haiti could happen anywhere. Devastation can come to any country in a myriad of ways. We all need mercy. Australia needs mercy. Your nation needs mercy.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Matthew 5:7
To receive mercy we must give it, and the measure we give will determine the measure we receive.
Now is your time to give mercy.
Please pray and then give sacrificially.
Here are some organisations you can donate to:
• World Vision:
www.worldvision.org.au
or go direct to their Haiti giving page
• Samaritan’s Purse:
www.samaritanspurse.org.au
• Compassion Australia:
www.compassion.com.au
or go direct to their Haiti giving page
• Salvation Army
(already had a very large presence in Haiti):
http://www.salvationarmy.org.au
or go direct to their Haiti giving page