I'm in the office today and i'm trying to get some work done. A co-worker forwarded an e-mail from a friend who is in SE Asia helping clean up and serve the victims there. This person met a man from Germany who was vacationing with his wife. While he was jogging and his wife was sun bathing on the beach he looked over and saw something strange in the water. He immediately started running toward his wife, but two minutes before reaching her he looked and the wall was right above him. He has been looking for his wife since. I suddenly feel completely distracted from my work. What can I do, but pray? And there is a part of me that feels that is so trite when there are people on the other side of the world grieving the loss of everything.

Yesterday, a director from World Vision came to speak with the staff. We are talking about partnering in some way and planning a mission trip to Africa. We ended up talking about the AIDS epidemic and how it is changing an entire landscape of people. He shared his concerns of what life will look like in 20 years. There are children in parts of Africa whose parents have died, grandparents are gone, aunts and uncles are dead and teachers have died due to this epidemic. What does the future look like for these children who are raising themselves? It's grim.

And here I am sitting at a comfortable desk... in a comfortable office... with every need taken care of. While on the other side of the map, there are men, women and children suffering beyond my understanding or experience.

As we've been reading Genesis, I've been thinking a lot about Sarai and Abram's promise from God. What a testament of God's provision and grace in their lives! I'm currently reading a commentary and the author points out the re-birth of Sarai and Abram. Their names are changed to Sarah and Abraham, a symbol of their re-birth. As Sarai and Abram they are barren and as Sarah and Abraham they give birth to Isaac. I parrallel this story with the grace and sacrafice of Christ. Before Christ we could not be reconciled before God and through the sacrafice of Christ we are redeemed and brought into relationship with our Father. Paul states, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (Romans 5:8-11)."

Now where am I going with all this? I guess I find comfort and hope in the revelation that God has been weaving his redemption story throughout the course of humanity even from the very beginning. The comparison of Sarah and Abraham's story to the gospel story reminds me that God's plan and promise has been the same all along. He desires to make us pregnant and alive in his grace, love, goodness and faithfulness so that we in turn can give birth to hope for others to embrace.

I still feel burdened. I'm unsure how to help, what to pray, how to give... But I can sit reassured that although I can't understand it or fully comprehend it there is hope, because God remains.