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All of us are overwhelmed and stunned at the images we see on TV about the devastation in Haiti.\u00a0 It is a nation into which billions and billions of aid have been poured and yet the money doesn\u2019t seem to have made the kind of dent we would expect.<\/p>\n
So what is our response when we see tragedies like this?\u00a0 Either earthquakes, tsunamis, war – we send money.\u00a0 And we should.\u00a0 Money is a powerful tool.<\/strong> It can be used to buy medicine, water and food.\u00a0 It can stave off starvation and disease.\u00a0 It can rebuild infrastructure.\u00a0 It can lift people out of a cycle of poverty.\u00a0 But that is never, ever enough.<\/em><\/p>\n Here is a novel idea for those of us who will never go to Haiti, who aren\u2019t missionaries, who live in the real world of commerce, of Wall Street, of profit and loss. The very best way for us to engage the suffering there in Haiti is to engage the suffering here, all around us.<\/strong><\/p>\n Maybe instead of texting our ten dollars to the Red Cross <\/a>, which is a good thing and should be done, or sending money to Samaritan\u2019s Purse<\/a>, or even a great ministry like Convoy of Hope<\/a>, we should, in addition<\/em>, look around at what\u2019s gone wrong in the families and communities in which we live.\u00a0 Maybe we should be peacemakers right here.<\/p>\n I have a peace plan that goes along the same lines of what Jesus promised when he said that those who followed and loved him would be peacemakers.\u00a0 It takes the word \u201cpeace\u201d and uses it as an acrostic for action.\u00a0 Here is my peace plan:<\/p>\n P – Practice being good news<\/strong>.\u00a0 This is what we need; hope, real hope, tangible, sustainable hope; the hope that is based on the foundation of what God has committed Himself to do in a world of sorrow and pain.\u00a0 There is always hope for those who turn form their ways and embrace the love and grace of God.\u00a0 Let\u2019s be the people who know what it\u2019s like to be loved.<\/p>\n E – Extinguish prejudice wherever we find it. <\/strong> As many of you know, Pat Robertson made a declaration that the earthquake is a judgment of God.\u00a0 Whether it is or isn\u2019t, this statement as it stands, is a great example of prejudice; the prejudice that comes from someone or some source that has an overinflated estimation of their own understanding of God\u2019s ways. So instead of deciding who\u2019s to blame and who deserves God\u2019s judgment and God\u2019s grace, let\u2019s strike out prejudice wherever we find it.\u00a0 God loves people as they are, not as they ought to be.<\/p>\n A – Advance the good.<\/strong> What is your career?\u00a0 Does your career advance the good, or just give you a paycheck?<\/p>\n C- Compassion that leads to action.<\/strong> What are the actionable steps you can take where you are that would relieve the pain and suffering, to help be a force of redemption, restoration, and reconciliation?<\/p>\n E – Embrace the suffering. <\/strong> This is what Jesus did, and this is what we should do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All of us are overwhelmed and stunned at the images we see on TV about the devastation in Haiti.\u00a0 It is a nation into which billions and billions of aid have been poured and yet the money doesn\u2019t seem to have made the kind of dent we would expect. So what is our response when … Continue reading “Throwing Money at Haiti Won\u2019t Solve the Problem”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"series":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1286"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=1286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}