A secret that is ready to be shared

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In a mirror darkly...

No matter how active you are, or full your life is, there is always going to be a certain amount of time each day spent waiting. This morning I was waiting rather anxiously for the toilet to be free. Then for my toast to pop. Around here we often have to wait for our cars to warm up. Maybe you wait for the train to arrive or the bus to show up. We wait in line at stores. We wait for elevators. Some (like myself) are still waiting for that special someone to make their appearance in their life.

Waiting... waiting on the world to change! (how can you not think of those lyrics when talking about waiting)

I don't know about you, but I am not a huge fan of waiting. I always want to redeem the time- multi-task, or at the very least find something that will entertain me while I wait. A good book, my DSi, blogging.... Right now I am waiting rather impatiently for the arrival of my first niece or nephew.* My brother and sister-in-law even more so, I'm sure. Its exciting, but time, especially these last few days, has seemed to drag by more and more slowly.

That expression, "a watched pot never boils..." I TOTALLY GET THAT!

The more you concentrate on the thing you are waiting for the longer it takes or the more time seems to slow down. And, the more time drags the more weary you become. Which is why the verse in Isaiah 40 is so important... (31).

"But those who wait on the LORD

Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint."

It offers a solution to the weariness of waiting.

Recently I was reading a story called "The Great Stone Face," by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In it, the protagonist, an earnest young man by the name of Ernest, waits his whole life to meet a hero from an ancient prophecy; "a man that would be the very likeness of the Great Stone Face." A face that God himself had carved into the mountainside, in the valley where Ernest lived. He loved the great stone face because of the promise that it held. He saw in it noble, strong, perhaps even divine features and thought to himself that a man that resembled it in any way must be as close to God as man could get.

He waited expectantly his whole life for the prophecy to be fulfilled... but he didn't just wait. Though men came and went from the town, men that many thought may be the one... none were. All of them, without exception disappointed. All fell short in some way. As Ernest waited, he contemplated; he spent time getting to know the Great Stone Face. In time that stony visage, and the prophecy of the man that would be like it, became of greater influence to Ernest's education than any school teacher or passing preacher could be. The waiting, with eyes fixed on this mute teacher, became transformational. The more Ernest contemplated the nobility of it's brow and the strength and divinity of those stony features the more Ernest himself grew to resemble them... Until at last the other inhabitants of the valley could clearly see that Ernest himself was the man of prophecy - the likeness of the Great Stone Face.

SO... what does it mean to wait on the LORD? I think it means we have much time each day that can be redeemed. So many minutes, even hours of the day that we spend waiting that can be better spent with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith. If we really did that could it even be possible to be weary? If my thoughts are fixed on the one who came to offer me life to the full, doesn't it stand to reason that my strength will be renewed? That I will "mount up with wings like eagles."?

It is inevitable that the more time we spend with someone the more we become like them... Christ is eternal and because of Christ so am I... with that in mind, time loses it's power. Pretty awesome huh?

*note: since first writing this my sister-in-law and brother were overjoyed to welcome into the world their daughter, and my first niece, Adi!! Now I am just waiting for opportunities to see her :D

Home Grown Swiss Spaghette

The Rains are Coming.

Maybe you've been following the ongoing devastation in Haiti, maybe you haven't... but in brief here it is. A new disaster is on it's way for Haiti. It's the rainy season. Many of the temporary camps housing hundreds of thousands of people have already been flooded out after only a couple of hours of rain. But it's only the beginning. With the rains, it becomes increasingly difficult to control the spread of disease. Those who are still in the process of healing are in particular danger.

The actor Sean Penn, along with a woman named Diana Jenkins have started a relief organization and effort to relocate these at risk tent communities as quickly as possible to lessen the effects the rainy season will have on these quake victims.

Although I haven't been a fan of Penn's liberal politics, I am VERY impressed with what I have seen of his organization. You can check it out for yourself here and see what you think.

Not long after the quake Penn was interviewed by Campbell Brown on CNN...

CAMPBELL BROWN: Let me ask you, it's been a month since the earthquake, I mean, first struck. In your mind right now, given what you've seen, what do you think the most pressing concern is?

SEAN PENN: The rain. When the rain comes, it's going to be a public health disaster. They could easily be on the scale of the earthquake itself. Disease is spreading already, tuberculosis, typhoid, tetanus, malaria. The place, you know, which already had incredible hygiene problems within the neighborhoods, now with the earthquake, this is a new disaster waiting to happen.

He was interviewed again tonight by (one of my favorites) Anderson Cooper, speaking from Haiti Penn again reiterated the presssing need for immediate relocation. Sadly politcs seem to be standing in the way and much of the good that was done early on after the quake is being undone by the rains and the petty squabbles of governmental employees.

I don't mean to rant. But I do. I can get easily frustrated by these things. I hate when real people, in desperate need, are treated as pawns in the career advancements of those who are, by all apearances, living a rather sheltered life... I want to go and knock a few heads, tell them to get over themselves and relocate these people already. Worry about more permanent solutions when the immediate dangers are resolved.

Instead I will pray. I pray that God holds back the rain until they are able to relocate. I pray that miraculously and surprisingly the spread of these diseases is stopped. I pray for quick healing for those that are recovering from major surgeries and illnesses. I pray that God prompts those in authority to do what is right for these people. I pray that those with actual giftings in administration will be in place to actively, quickly and effectively moderate the relocation of these at risk tent cities... and further still the rebuilding of homes, hospitals, schools and businesses in Haiti.

Won't you pray this with me?

The Handsome Men's Club

Oh Jimmy, you make me smile!

The Red Cross are making me cross!!

Where in Haiti is the Red Cross? ... They have now surpassed the $100 million mark in Aid money/pledges for Haiti, but they don't seem to have a presence there... No visibility on any news stations... and some very evasive answers on the BBC as to how that money is being spent. How can we hold them accountable??!!

Newsnight discovered that two years after the tsunami disaster, billions of pounds were sitting unused in Red Cross bank accounts. No joke, here's a link to the video.
Really no laughing matter.

I know they have some people there setting up tents etc... but their presence, when compared with the finances and manpower behind them, is sadly lacking.

Most of this seems due to TERRIBLE organizational skills, policies and red tape.

Perhaps I am biased... My Mother, a nurse/midwife who worked for the Red Cross in Africa, has a plethora of stories of the Red Cross administration's blunders and their poor understanding of what is actually essential in a Crisis.

While working in Africa, and desperately needing medicines and food, they were sent boxes and boxes of tinned food, with no can opener. To aid her in her work the Red Cross "generously" provided her, and those on her team with a kit, no larger than a small make up bag, in order to provide medical care for the people she met... it included bandages (small plasters) a small pair of scissors, and some aspirin... BUT they were given many stickers and badges so that they and their vehicles could be clearly marked.
There were even fur coats generously donated to the African people, who neither needed nor wanted them. That, I'm afraid, is just the tip of the iceburg!

It seems that those "on the ground" working for the Red Cross are talented, caring people who really do want to do all that they can, but the organization of this talent and the provisions given them are so limited it that they are severely inhibited.

I would include Unicef in this rant... they seem to be not much better at the moment... but I have less information on them so maybe I'll save it for later :D
BUT I do pray that there will be more accountability for this organization (and others like them). That they won't withold much needed aid. That the organization will soon be run by capable, level headed, sensible people that really do care more about others than they care about themselves.

HOWEVER.. I do still recommend to you Doctors Without Borders... despite their supply planes continuously being turned away from the Port-au-Prince airport, they have already done thousands of surgeries... even though forced to buy a saw (locally) they are doing what they can! Check out this video from Amanpour... you can hear their frustration... tinged with a tiny bit of joy in what they have been able to accomplish despite these ridiculously terrible conditions.

UPDATE

At about 3 am... my usual time to be wide awake and wondering what to do with myself... I was watching CNN and the reporter on the ground there in Haiti was talking about the difficulty some of the Aid Organizations are having with communication and also with distribution of aid.

HOWEVER...

He went on to say that "a faith based NGO called WORLD VISION" seemed to have a well developed system, and seemed to not only be highly effective in reaching out with aid to masses of people, but that they seemed the most organized and the people receiving aid from them were much more calm and orderly than at other sites.

SO KUDOS to World Vision. for getting the job done!

LET ME ADD, Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta have sealed their positions in my book of heros this week!! He's a clip of Anderson being BRILLIANT as per usual... and another of Sanjay equally if not more brilliant.