A Godly reaction to disaster.

How should we react to a disaster like the cyclone which has struck Burma and left so much death and destruction in its wake?

1. Be affected
In these days of 24 hour news the impact of such disasters have lessened, the first question is do I really feel that loss. Such an event with its tragic loss of life should move us.

2. Be alert
It should heighten our awareness to do what we can do in the area God has placed us to alleviate suffering.

3. Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ
Pray that our fellow believers would know God's strength in the midst of this disaster, that God would be their comfort and refuge. Pray that the church would declare the gospel to the world and beyond in the way it responds.

4. Pray for unbelievers
We should pray that it would awaken people to what is wrong with the world and that through the love God's people show them that they would come to faith.

5. Pray for ourselves
That we are not lulled into comfort by our lives, that we would live pressing on for goal not settle for what we have here.

6. Act
Give to alleviate the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Burma.

Good or bad?

I was reading the paper on Saturday and there was a two thirds of a page advert reminding me to buy my mum something for mother's day just in case I'd forgotten - which I hadn't by the way. Calling on me to celebrate love, self sacrifice and dedication, in short reminding me to celebrate everything that is good about humanity.

The irony was that sat next to it was a 2 column, 3 or 4 paragraph story reporting on a young mum and dad who had been sentenced for killing their 11 month old through neglect, the little girl had starved to death.

A reminder to celebrate all that is good but also a reminder of everything that is bad about our world. It is right to celebrate what is good but the bad is never far away, a reminder of the fallenness of the world and our need of God's gospel to save and change us.

A day for news

Just back from an hour and half in casualty having an elbow X-rayed after a footballing injury last night, no lasting damage but a couple of days no lifting and on ibuprofen and paracetamol.

But as I was sat in the hospital I was watching life go on around me. There will be those there who will have had the worst possible news this morning, being reminded in no uncertain terms of their mortality. There will be those families for whom this morning life was normal but who now face the devastation of losing a loved one.

Yet elsewhere in the hospital there will have been those getting good news, a cancer in remission, a successful surgery, or an impending birth, or even the safe delivery of their child.

Yet ultimately hospitals are reminders of our mortality, that life is fragile and we are frail. For all our illusions of immortality, advancement and capability we are at the mercies of a patch of ice, or a virus, or rogue growth, or simply someone else's mistake.

What a difference the gospel would make to those who have had bad news this morning. To know that God loves them, that God knows, that he has sent his Son so that death is not the end, so that we can look forward to a world without the A&E department or X-ray or oncology.

That's great news and it is God's gift to his people to be able to live and speak that news to those in just the situation we find them in.