God Help Myanmar
Okay, I rarely get political, but I nearly lost my breakfast when I read this story this morning: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_on_re_as/myanmar. It begins "Myanmar's military government is removing cyclone victims from refugee camps and dumping them near their devastated villages with virtually no aid supplies, the United Nations said Friday."
I know there is evil in the world, and like many people, I've only been introduced to Myanmar in the last few weeks, so I admit upfront that I'm no expert on this situation. However, it is still astonishing to me that a ruling group can so publicly wipe out hundreds of thousands of people with the world watching on CNN.
And it's easy to see where this is leading. While I'm not a pro-war advocate by any means, you know full well that the U.S. will feel the need to go in and do something in Myanmar. I agree with people who say that the U.S. gets too involved in other countries' problems, but I don't think it's possible to sit by and do nothing for these victims.
Which is why you HAVE to pray for our leaders. I know people are critical of George Bush, and I didn't vote for the guy either, but I think that if what the media shows the public is sickening, and assuming that he knows much, much more than we do about what's going on, Bush must feel pretty sick most of the time. I honestly believe the guy does what he thinks is right, for the right reasons. At the end of the day, being a good leader is about doing what is right for people, not about being popular.
As a Christian, I'm torn on this. I pray hard for these people, and I don't believe in war, but how do you help these people without military force? These evil types of leaders need to be stopped, and to sit idly by just doesn't seem possible. Even donating money to Unicef doesn't seem to help here since the aid isn't getting to the victims anyway.
What is there to do? (Really, I'm asking for ideas here...)
Pray hard for the leaders of the world so that they can work on this problem together. Ask for God's blessings for the people of Myanmar who are undoubtedly suffering a great deal as we sit sipping our Starbuck's this morning. Help us, Lord, to know what each of us can do to aid these people.
I know there is evil in the world, and like many people, I've only been introduced to Myanmar in the last few weeks, so I admit upfront that I'm no expert on this situation. However, it is still astonishing to me that a ruling group can so publicly wipe out hundreds of thousands of people with the world watching on CNN.
And it's easy to see where this is leading. While I'm not a pro-war advocate by any means, you know full well that the U.S. will feel the need to go in and do something in Myanmar. I agree with people who say that the U.S. gets too involved in other countries' problems, but I don't think it's possible to sit by and do nothing for these victims.
Which is why you HAVE to pray for our leaders. I know people are critical of George Bush, and I didn't vote for the guy either, but I think that if what the media shows the public is sickening, and assuming that he knows much, much more than we do about what's going on, Bush must feel pretty sick most of the time. I honestly believe the guy does what he thinks is right, for the right reasons. At the end of the day, being a good leader is about doing what is right for people, not about being popular.
As a Christian, I'm torn on this. I pray hard for these people, and I don't believe in war, but how do you help these people without military force? These evil types of leaders need to be stopped, and to sit idly by just doesn't seem possible. Even donating money to Unicef doesn't seem to help here since the aid isn't getting to the victims anyway.
What is there to do? (Really, I'm asking for ideas here...)
Pray hard for the leaders of the world so that they can work on this problem together. Ask for God's blessings for the people of Myanmar who are undoubtedly suffering a great deal as we sit sipping our Starbuck's this morning. Help us, Lord, to know what each of us can do to aid these people.
