I’m currently sitting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia enjoying a lovely day off from ministry. This year I have lived in 10 different developing countries. I have traveled through more airports than most people will in their lifetime. I’ve prepared food on a plate in the dirt and cooked it over fire. I have kissed babies and held dirty little hands in Africa without a seconds hesitation. I’ve been in foreign hospitals in nearly every country I’ve been in, some with drastically different standards for sanitation than the United States. I wash my hands when I can though I’m definitely not obsessive. I have lived my life surrounded by people, people, people, coming and going from various places in the world.
And Ebola doesn’t scare me.
Ebola has claimed the lives of so many people in West Africa and beyond. It’s truly tragic and my heart breaks for those battling this severe disease and the families of those who could fight it no more.
But Ebola isn’t the biggest tragedy in the world; self preservation is.
This disease, though life-threatening, is far less dangerous than a world of people who catches wind of a tragedy, hardship, or epidemic and sees only themselves in light of it. What’s truly tragic is when our hearts are more absorbed with our own health and safety than for the livelihood of others. What’s truly tragic is when we are so worried about our loved ones that we don’t even hear the wails of mothers and fathers who have just lost theirs.
Protecting your family is absolutely beautiful and I am by no means telling you to throw caution to the wind! Hear me clearly on this! But as you’re scrolling through your news feed, reading stories after stories of nurses affected with Ebola stateside, and pouring over maps marked with reported cases, and seeing only endless numbers, statistics, precautions and things to avoid, does your mind even flicker away from how you can keep your family Ebola-free to those whose lives have been absolutely torn apart by this disease and many others? As you’re thinking about Ebola, do you truly think about the lives of those it’s actually affected?
The Ebola outbreak is being covered by every news station in America but more people die from starvation, from preventable diseases, and from lack of clean water EVERY SINGLE DAY than have died during this Ebola outbreak. What are you going to do about that? Ebola is serious but it’s amateur compared to these things. You can’t bring a vile of a cure for Ebola to those affected but you can donate to food programs, you can sponsor a child, you can pay to dig a well, and in those ways, YOU can save lives. But first, you have to stop googling Ebola, and start looking around you.
Ebola doesn’t scare me because I’ve changed my perspective. And this is my prayer and challenge to my loved ones in America: shift your focus up and out. Look outside of your home. Be people of much prayer over the world – over sickness, over poverty, over brokenness, over loss – but especially over the spiritual condition of the world. People are dying right now (Ebola-related or not) without the love and hope of Jesus Christ and that is more heart-wrenching to me than anything else. And look up. See the Sovereign, Wonderful, Loving Lord of the Universe as bigger than all of this. Nothing surprises Him. And nothing exists or occurs outside of his glory. Our worrying diminishes His dominion and reign in our eyes. Don’t do it.
And just another piece of advice: your friends who are missionaries and volunteers overseas don’t need you to tell them all the statistics of Ebola-related deaths. They know. They don’t need you to tell them the symptoms of Ebola and the preventative measures. They know. They don’t need you to tell them that there has been cases of Ebola in the country they’re serving in. They know. And yet they’re still there. They’re still going. They’re still dedicating themselves to their cause. So they still desperately need your prayers and encouragement, but Ebola-related ones are probably lower on the list.
I love you all so much and I’m looking forward to being back in the mainland in 37 days!
Be Light,
Bre
