What matters, and I believe what always matters, is our response.
What we actually do, not what we say, and not what we believe.
It seems to me, that in the gospels Jesus is constantly concerned with what people are doing. That their actions reflect what it is they truly believe in their hearts.
I think that if we actually do believe that life is valuable, that people really do matter to God, then our actions would show it by our response to such a catastrophe.
Yes, there will always be poor people in the world.
Yes, there will always be disasters that happen. Maybe that just means that there will always be opportunity for people to display God's love in tangible ways.
And maybe the statement of "the poor will always be with you," isn't declaring that truth to exist as an ideal...but just reporting it. Simply acknowledging that there will always be people who get the short end of the stick. There will always be those who are enslaved by the systems we create out of our greed, pride, laziness, and wastefulness. We won't ever get it right. The poor will always be with us.
There will always be ways for us to help
We can help people in Haiti. It seems what relief organizations need most isn't volunteers, isn't goods, isn't items, isn't supplies.
It's money.
When disasters like this happen, donating money is far more effective than doing something physical about it. Emergency relief organizations have incredibly efficient systems in place to help quickly...when they get the funds.
So donate some money.
Through whatever emergency relief organization you'd like. Red Cross, World Vision, Compassion International, Convoy of Hope. Go ahead and donate through a church special program if they're partnering with an organization, for example NPC is partnering with Convoy of Hope for emergency IMPACT offerings.
It doesn't matter, just pick one. Here, I'll pick one for you.
