Restoration:
A Small Link of Hope
by Darris McNeely
To which organization should I donate? How do I know my money will get to people who really need it and won't be eaten up with bureaucratic expense? Will my donation really make a difference?
Like many of you, I have asked these questions over recent weeks as I looked at pictures of the devastation from the tsunami in South Asia. It will take years for the affected countries to recover. Many people's lives will never fully recover. Yet something has to be done to help people get back on their feet and move on.
A few days ago a solicitation came from a humanitarian agency run by one of my fellow ministers in the United Church of God. He is raising funds to help buy and refurbish fishing boats for Sri Lankan villages along the Indian Ocean. These people lost their means of supporting themselves when the tsunami destroyed their boats. The agency, LifeNets, is partnering with other larger agencies to raise funds to help people help themselves out of the tragic circumstance (see www.lifenets.org). Here, by comparison, is a small effort to help and to make a difference.
So I wrote out my check to this agency and sent it. In my mind, I imagine that it will help buy some nets, machinery or a rudder on one boat and thereby let a family earn a living and feed themselves and others. I look at it as one small link on a large chain of hope reaching out as a lifeline to people half a world away from my comfortable neighborhood.
There is a lot of bad news in our world. Bible prophecy contains some pretty grim pictures as well. Put them together and the subjects we write about are sobering, realistic and downright frightening at times. Yet at the core of Bible prophecy is the truth that Jesus Christ cares about the world He created. He did not wind up the world at the beginning and walk away to leave people to their own devices.
Read the full article at www.wnponline.org/wnp/wnp0502/linkofhope.htm
Related Information on UCG Sites:
Table of Contents that includes "A Small Link of Hope"
Other Articles by Darris McNeely
Tsunami:
- _Deadly Earthquakes and Killer Tsunamis
- _Waves of Devastation and Disaster: What Do They Mean for You?
- _Who'll Stop the Rain?
- _The Quiet Mind
- _The South Asian Tsunami: Foretaste of Things to Come?
- _Why Does God Allow Disasters?
- _God and the Tsunami
- _The Indian Ocean Tsunami: Foretaste of Things to Come?
- _Waves of Devastation and Disaster: What Do They Mean for You?
Key Subjects Index
General Topics Index
Biblical References Index
Good News Magazine Index
Booklets and All Literature Index
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