Tears

The other night Katrina overheard us talking about the cyclone in Burma and asked what was going on. I gave her a very simplified explanation including that the people did not get proper warning from the government and that now the government is not allowing supplies or relief workers into the country. Then I showed her a few tame pictures on the Internet.

About 15 minutes later we found Katrina on her bed staring into space and not responding to our questions. When Gerald asked if she was upset about the cyclone, tears spilled out of her eyes and down her cheeks. Then she started weeping. "Why didn't the government tell the people and why don't they let help in?" she wailed. I took her into the living room where we hugged, talked and prayed about it for a while. We told her we would give some money to help when she reminded me she had lost her money. (She keeps stashing things in various places - never to be found again. Sometimes I feel I'm living with a squirrel.) In the morning I asked the girls how they had slept. Katrina replied, "I didn't sleep well because I kept thinking about the government." Indeed, she had even had a nightmare during the night.

This is the first time Katrina has responded in this way to the news. In one way it brings me great sadness - the innocence of childhood which we have so carefully protected is being washed away slowly with the realities of the world. But in another sense, it brings me great joy - because a tender heart is one that God can use.

And while we learn simple lessons in the safety of our living room, thousands of rotting bodies are floating down the rivers of Burma into the very ocean which brought them their death. Oh God, have mercy.