One Person at a Time

It is difficult to have anything but a horrified fascination with numbers of dead and injured and displaced. In Burma it is tens of thousands who have perished and millions homeless. In China the death toll rises toward twenty thousand with many more trapped in the rubble.

This morning I heard a report about a rescue and recovery worker who has been pulling bodies from the wreckage of a school. He heard a child calling for help and worked desparately to pull away the stone and timbers. Eventually the little girl was found, alive. He said that he worked without ceasing because he would have been haunted for the rest of his life by the sound of her voice.

I need to remember that this is not an impersonal tally, that every person who has died was known and loved and will now be grieved.

I continue to find great solace and strength in my relationship with a God who came to be with humanity in a person, Jesus, who responded to individuals in a compassionate and loving manner. The message is that Christ searches for us until we are found. Somehow I can translate that into my response to what may seem like a tragedy beyond my comprehension.