Okay. I'm in bed. So, I didn't lie. I went to bed.
Watching the news today it seems unfathomable to me that this thing even happened. I'm still not even sure how to spell tsunami. Is that right? Anyway, it's like an overblown Memorial Day Weekend movie. Deep Impact, Twister. This just doesn't feel real.
A friend from Blockbuster once told me that movie rentals of disaster movies actually increased the week of 9/11. I look at my queue on Netflix and see The Day After Tomorrow is coming up. I think I'll bump it back. I don't know.
I was at Blockbuster that day renting movies sometime the week after 9/11. Daphne and I needed an escape from the images we were seeing on television. A comedy would be a great escape. So, I rented Muppets Take Manhattan and Annie Hall. It wasn't until I got home that I realized the irony. In fact, it wasn't until I clearly saw the two towers in the Muppet movie that I realized the irony. I thought, maybe God doesn't want us to escape this right now.
The news anchors, even the ones reporting live from the wreckage in Asia, sound so cavalier when saying the death toll is climbing by the thousands daily. Have we become so anesthetized that nothing can feel real? Why do I not cry with the wails of the Easterners when I see the death and destruction-the absolute disparity of those amateur home videos of people holding on for dear life? Why do I not wail when I see the death and destruction this mindless war has brought?
Can I blame the numbness on the movies? How about video games? George Bush, Michael Moore, Marilyn Manson? When do I look to myself and say, "I need to do something"?
The Upper Room is a daily devotional that is usually found on the toilet of your average UM Church goer. I, like any good Methodist read my Upper Room from time to time. I never ceased to be amazed at the appropriateness of any given day's Prayer Focus or Thought for The Day. These devotionals are written as much as a year in advance from my understanding. On December 27, the day of the tsunami, the devotional was a story that had nothing to do with Christmas. I'm sure someone on staff at the Upper Room said, "we need something about the days following Christmas here people." But the story was about a minister in India and the prayer focus was "The Church in India". Read it here.
And that's what I do. I pray. I pray for the people, I pray for the families, I pray for the Church. I pray God uses this horrible atrocity for good. I am thankful for organizations like UMCOR and World Vision. Do what you can to support them.
If you have money, give here. Whether you do or not, pray. Click here for an excellent place to start.
