Or stop and do something!

“Oh my GOD, this is terrible and then they will go on eating their dinners.”                                                                                            ~Hotel Rwanda

For a while my heart has really been calling out to those facing distress or unrest and so of course I took the time to watch Hotel Rwanda today. I sat there, my heart breaking, tears streaming down my face.  Jenni Rose and Becca gently place their hands on my back in comfort as I’m leaning forward sitting as close to the screen as possible desiring so much to run to Rwanda, to be with the people. Even now, though this holocaust took place in 1994, I can only imagine the condition of the hearts of the survivors, who may be alive, but have seen their families killed, their friends tortured, and their country ravaged by hatred. 

And it continues. 

In some places, civil war is still taking place. In some places, battles for power terrorize the lives of many. In some places, children are killed, families are torn apart, and violence claims innocent lives. To hear gunshots as an everyday occurrence, to be afraid to walk down the street, to be considered of little or no value because of your heritage, your tribe, your ancestry, is incomprehensible to many of us, yet it is happening.

Hatred is consuming and blinding many and darkness spreads. 1 John 2:11, But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. Let’s bring light.

In the movie, Hotel Rwanda, footage is captured of the massacre taking place. One man sees this as hope that as other countries see what is really going on they will intervene to help bring peace to the situation. Yet the man who took the footage claims that most will see it and say it is terrible, and then go on eating their dinners.

What? How can I? How can we? As I minister here in the peaceful, beautiful country of Swaziland, I am still called to action. What is more powerful than prayer? I feel led to fast dinner and spend the time in prayer for those facing this unrest. I will be fasting dinner every day I am in Africa. And I feel led to share this with you and invite you to join me in some way. I ask you to be aware of all this going on around you, in your own communities, and in the world, and not to see us divided by borders and seas, but united as brothers and sisters. I ask you to pray about what GOD is leading you to do for our family in need. If it is fasting a dinner a week and covering them in prayer, if it sharing with your family what others might be facing bringing to light the situations that do exist, if it is checking the condition of your own heart with those you struggle to relate to or understand, then let’s walk in that obedience together.