A Humbling Thought

God's Calming Watchfulness

Sunday, March 13, 2011, as I was getting ready for church, my mind kept focusing on the items I had that the people in the northern part of Japan no longer had.

Things like hot water, water coming from a faucet, clean drinking water, electricity, heat, food, clean clothes, transportation, and housing came to mind. Items we usually take for granted or don’t even think about.

The next day, I thought of hair brushes, toothbrushes, drinking glasses, plates, silverware, blankets, telephones, cell phones, computers, grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacies, and newspapers.

Several years ago I wrote about how blessed we were if we had the basics. At that time I made a replica of a solar cooking stove to as a visual aid for a mission project for Haiti. The women there cooked on a small structure made from cardboard and covered with aluminum foil.

As people living in the 21st Century, we have to be more mindful of the basic items needed for living. Our church participated in putting together hygiene kits for the arm of our denomination that reaches out to those in disaster-torn areas. Most of us may never have to go through something like the earthquake, tsunami, and the nuclear catastrophe but we should have the tenderness of heart to find a way to help, in a small way, to alleviate the need. Our community gathered at our church for Chicken Noodle dinner and a concert on the late afternoon and evening of Palm Sunday with the proceeds going to help alleviate the needs in Japan.