Forthright Magazine http://www.forthright.net/ Straight to the Cross We'd like to hear from our readers. Never made a comment online? Follow the link at the end of the article in this email. At the bottom of the webpage there are spaces for you to write in. Have a say! COLUMN: GUEST WRITERS Top Ten Things to Learn From a Disaster by David Lemmons Editor's note: Brother David Lemmons is a missionary to Indonesia. He wrote this article in January 2005, in reference to a disaster. He is sharing it again in lieu of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti. We offer it to you, as well. Please pray for the the suffering in Haiti. TEN, our brethren have lots of money. I have learned of one group of brethren actually borrowing $100,000 to send relief to Asia. Two other groups have either borrowed or collected $40,000. I am sure this is only a small portion of what has been or will be done. Brethren, let us not say that we don’t have the money. We do have it! NINE, our brethren, on occasion, are willing to part with their money. Many who communicated with me were ready to send some. EIGHT, there is a particular phrase which is always most effective in leading our brethren to part with their money. That phrase: DISASTER RELIEF . SEVEN, our brethren have a tendency to seek to justify massive interest in an area where there was previously very little interest by saying, "Maybe this will influence them to look more favorably on efforts to teach them the gospel. It has been an oft-expressed sentiment." The truthfulness of this sentiment is not to be denied, though, it is often quite exaggerated. However, how we can be motivated similarly to support the faithful preaching of the gospel is my quest for you to ponder. SIX, prayers for particular nations are greatly increased by earthquakes and natural disasters. FIVE, sometimes our brethren begin to locate countries on the map, even those on the other side of the globe. FOUR, ignorance of false religions continues to enslave precious souls. Brother Steve Waller [missionary to Indonesia, RM] has reported to me that many are heard on the TV in Indonesia to be crying out to ALLAH asking him not to be angry with them any more. THREE, as we give of our money for the relief of suffering humanity, we are made to feel so much better about the human condition on this planet and we are encouraged to know that there are many who do care. TWO, missionaries in challenging fields get discouraged in that they have a constant battle they have to fight to stay in the budgets of the brethren back home. No one is borrowing money to be able to support their efforts at preaching the word of God in their difficult countries. Yet, they see money flow so freely in such a time as this. ONE, multitudes of souls are lost eternally in a single event. Perhaps some could have been saved eternally were we not so out-of-balance in what motivates us to give. I suggest to us, as members of the Lord’s church, that we need to think of the principle presented in the conversation Jesus had with Martha (Luke 10:41-42). It is possible to get our priorities so very mixed up. We can do better and we must! ___________ David Lemmons preaches for the Bellevue Road church of Christ, in Dublin, Georgia. His writing can be found at http://lemmonsaid.wordpress.com/ ---- Read this article online, write your reaction, and read others' comments as well. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/yagzw9o You can help get the word out. Here's how: http://www.forthright.net/editorial/lend_a_hand.html