It was so unlike me, almost every time this sort of disaster happened, I donated money immediately and then sent emails to my friends asking them to do the same.
This time, the devastation is so great, other than shedding my own share of tears while reading/watching the latest news, I didn't do anything.
I thought about what I could do to make a difference. Even if I gave half of all my money, (EVEN IF, not that I'm this generous), it might only be enough to build a few cottages at most. (I think the construction fee there should be quite cheap, right?) However, it is still nothing compared to the scope of destruction.
I thought about going to Sichuan to help, if not for the coming examination next week. That might be able to make a little bit of a difference. Unfortunately, exam is coming in the next two weeks.
When people feel helpless, they turn to prayers. I have received numerous requests to pray for these people in the past few days. However, I don't know what to pray about, and I am simply tired of prayers like these though. (I agree with what littleho said in his blogpost.)
Today, I went to a church near my home, not my own church. And surprisingly, I found some pretty good prayers that I could say to God from my heart.
(You can click on the photo and then the magnifying glass to get a bigger version.)
(Sorry for the poor quality, I just took them with my camera, too lazy to scan them =P)
I like the way these prayers dealt with suffering, not just by saying let these people become Christians, and shouting stuff like "oh God heal them". One of the best way of dealing with suffering is through Jesus' own suffering. And in the third prayer to the Holy Spirit, there is a line about identifying the calling from God (on how to help these people), this is something I've never thought about in the past few days.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" (Romans 8:35)
(FYI, I made a donation online just before I started writing this.)
