Passing Through The Waters

How do you describe flying over mile after mile of jungle and thick bush dotted here and there with the occasional thatched roof to land in a clearing that just kind of appears in the middle of all the foliage below? How do you describe the need, and the little you have to meet that need? How do you describe the pleas for assistance? How do you make sense of the world’s silence in the face of a disaster far greater than the 9/11 attacks, hurricane Katrina or the Tsunami of several years ago? Where will the strength come from to face the tasks at hand?
As I began this project several months ago I was reminded over and over again of Psalm 43. “When you pass through the waters I will be with you…” It has been a comfort for me as I have continued on with a project that has met many obstacles along the way. After seven weeks of waiting for government paperwork and clearance to distribute the relief supplies, the first few flights to deliver supplies began a week and a half ago. Since then we have delivered over 20 tons of supplies by air and an additional 20 tons by road. In each place we visit the need is far greater than the supplies we have but the people are thankful nonetheless. God has been faithful in protecting us and opening the way for the distribution of supplies to take place. We have passed, and continue to pass, through the waters.
As the end of this project is nearing my heart is rejoicing at what has been accomplished but is heavier than when I started because we have only put a band-aide on a bleeding heart. Daily I get requests for food assistance or medicines and almost just as often I hear reports of children snatched from their homes and marched through the bush. The silence in the press and lack of attention being given to this crisis weighs heavily on me as it is my friends, my families, that have faced the atrocities of the LRA and now risk starvation in the coming months. The need is so great.
We do not live in a fare world, I have come to accept that, but when several thousand Congolese are murdered and people don’t notice, it is time to stand up and shout. If you have had the time to read this, I encourage you to take the time to write your congressperson, write your local newspaper, write anyone you can think of that might care and tell them, “The LRA are reeking havoc in CONGO. They aren’t in Uganda anymore. There are as many if not more displaced and murdered people in northeastern Congo as there are in Darfur. What can we do to stop this?” Dear friends, please do not just read this and go back to the schedule you had planned for your day. Pray, give, call, write, do something.