Sometimes the news is just too horrific to watch. I can’t imagine how much more horrific it is to actually experience what is happening in places like Haiti after its devastating earthquake.

The Livesays (they’re the ones who made that sweet Christmas video I posted in December) are missionaries currently in Haiti who are updating as much as they are able with news and practical advice, for instance:

Coming down if you are not willing to risk and get in and clean out horrific wounds would just tax an already taxed place. Medical professionals should contact organizations with the ability to coordinate efforts and try to get here. It won’t help to have more non-medical people to feed and house. Hope that does not sound harsh – but it is truth.

Many of you know Frank Garlock, via either his books or messages about music or his hymn arrangements or as father-in-law to Ron Hamilton, aka “Patch the Pirate,” but he was on a mission trip to Haiti when the earthquake hit, and they’ve not heard from him or been able to get through to find out if he is all right. The local news had several folks in the same predicament with loved ones and friends in Haiti and means of communication being down. Update: Dr. Garlock has been found and is fine. Updates can be found here, but there are many with no word yet.

It always makes me sad when some are quick to say that sufferers are being judged for their sins, like Job’s miserable comforters. There are many reasons God allows suffering (and I urge you to take time to peruse that post, especially if you’re struggling with why God might allow such things as this.) One paragraph from that post:

Another thought is that God does not view death as we do. This was one thing that helped my son when he was troubled about why God let natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina happen. Death is in God’s hands, whether it is the death of an individual or hundreds of people, whether it happens in a car crash or an illness or a natural disaster. And, for the Christian, God looks at death differently than we do. On His side of it, He is ushering us into His Presence, and nothing could be better. To the lost and to the saved as well, these things can be a wake-up call — we all have a time limit, it is not guaranteed that we will live a certain number of years, and we need to be ready to meet eternity at any moment.

Some organizations are already collecting for needed relief efforts (please be careful — unfortunately, scam artists come out in droves at times like this), and beyond that, we can pray:

• for those who are trapped to be found and rescued.
• for communications to be restored.
• for word to arrive about friends and loved ones there.
• for medical help to arrive.
• for wisdom for those coordinating relief efforts.
• for wisdom for those like the Livesays who are there, that they might know the best ways to help.
• for the physical needs.
• for the spiritual needs: comfort, grace, and for those who do not know God to find Him.