Pray

Have you read the news lately? Living in Africa I like to peruse the headlines related to African countries and recently they have been full of death, news of people killing people, people hating people. I can almost feel the anger and the hate in the room as I sit thousands of miles away and read of the atrocities happening. It all revolves around power; we will do anything for power and control. The things that are happening make me sick just to read about them. And yet I know the potential for that kind of evil lives in my heart and it’s only because of God’s grace that I can love instead of hating.

At the same time, the sad state of our hearts is also revealed in the news. The top news along with dictators and riots is Prince William and Kate Middleton. Alongside of learning about thousands of people dying we are intensely concerned with the private life of Prince William and want to know every detail of what happens with him and his girlfriend. One minute we read of countries being turned upside down and the next we look for the latest gossip with England’s royals. What is happening to us that we can be so callous? What if we had family in those places where people are being burned alive? Would we be so quick to dismiss the news after reading it?

I have been guilty of reading news of terrible things in far off places and not caring enough to even offer up a prayer. Then one day that changed and I wondered how people around me could be so calm and go about their lives as usual when friends of mine in another country were in danger. I read every bit of news I could and prayed all day long. Now when I hear of similar things happening in places where I don’t know people I feel a connection. I wonder about all the families, the innocent people who have lost their homes and are worried about staying alive in the midst of chaos.

It makes me want to cry when I think of the suffering people are enduring, caught in the fight for power and yet I feel helpless in the wake of it all. What can I do to make a difference? How can I change anything? I live in Africa but my influence is limited to my small office and the people around me. The only one with enough power to remove hate from people’s hearts is God. Fortunately I have a direct line to Him. In fact we all do and now is the time to use it.

So pray with me for places where hate rules and peace seems impossible. Pray all day long, pray for God’s will to be done. Don’t let yourself view those people as different from us, they hurt they way we do and they long for a chance to live their lives in peace as we do. Remember them and pray.