Catastrophes
In the first few months of 2022 I found myself crawling out from under my Covid-19 duvet and squinting at the TV only to find myself faced with another unimaginable world event unfolding before my eyes.
As we emerge out of one catastrophe we find ourselves observing another one – a war that is unfolding before us, and the world news agencies want to make sure that we view every last detail through our TV screens.
Whist I may not understand the ins and outs of this horrid spectacle, I do recognise injustice and suffering when I see it.
The news reports and images on social and print media give us enough of an idea as to the extent of the displacement and trauma being experienced by those feeing the heavy hand of the Russian army in Ukraine. Families separated, inexperienced men and women being called to take up arms and defend their territories, soldiers and civilians mercilessly killed in the name of ‘demilitarisation and de-Nazification’.
But behind the bombs, tanks, and border crossings, I see people. Scared people. People who have left and possibly lost everything. “Refugee” is not a label any of us can ever imagine having pinned on us, and most of these people felt the same way only a few weeks ago. Now defined by a status, these people are seeking safety from bordering countries, and often beyond.
As I sit in my warm lounge, on my comfy cat-clawed sofa, with a glass of wine in one hand and my mobile phone in the other, I have a choice to make. I can flick through hundreds of ‘reels’ and ‘stories’ that fill and numb my mind to stop me thinking about what’s happening in our sick world…or, I can look at what I have, what I’ve been blessed with, and choose to use it for good.
For Simon and I, it’s a very real decision. We could keep our heads down, pray for better days, and ignore the fact that we can maybe help in a very small but real way – or we can give in to our strong urge to hand over what we have (in northern Romania) so that others may have hope for better days.
So here we are – 2 sleeps away from getting on that flight to Romania and one full day left to prep and pack for a journey that we hadn’t planned to take this early in the year. We are up for the challenge (albeit with some hesitation) and looking forward to discovering how God will use what we are prepared to hold loosely and hand back to him.
Our next blog explains what it is that we have to offer and how you can partner with us through, encouragement, prayer, and financial support in the hope of bringing comfort, safety and hope to some of the refugees traveling past our home in Romania.
