Plan 'Be'

Check out http://wecan.be. Excellent teaching on the beattitudes. They point out that Christians are always wanting to post the 10 commandments everywhere, but never the beattitudes, though they came out of the mouth of Jesus. Not knocking the big 10, mind you, but maybe it would be cool to make a really big deal out of the beattitudes. The following is copied from http://wecan.be (who got it from the Bible). 1. Blessed are the poor - or poor in spirit – who do not trust in status or riches 2. Blessed are those who mourn – who grieve over the injustice in the world 3. Blessed are the meek – who get angry but who never get aggressive 4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness - who seek justice 5. Blessed are the merciful – who are compassionate to everyone in need 6. Blessed are the pure in heart – who are whole-hearted in desire to do right 7. Blessed are the peacemakers – who work for peace in a world at war 8. Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness - who suffer for just causes

Suffering, caring and apathy

My friend just told me that his wife might die. Its worse than that, but I'll leave the details out for his sake and yours. I'm frustrated that he and his family have to struggle to get by. He's a hard worker but they've been hit hard by the economy and by circumstances and then his wife got sick... where is the church? Why have I not been there more for them? I'm very frustrated. They need material help, and we gave them a bit. They need more. She needs healing. I'm so mad and frustrated. Mad that we're not able to do more materially. More mad that we can't fix her. We can and will cry out to God for mercy and that's it. But why am I not more mad and frustrated than I am? The situation certainly warrants it. Why are we not all jumping up and down screaming about the injustice of my friend's suffering and how much everyone needs to help? And come to think of it, why are we not screaming about the people next door who are hurting and the others down the street who are having such a rough time, and not too far away is the hospital where they're hurting and dying, and the jail and the nursing home and the...mall. Its so easy to look the other way. Its almost like we have to in order to survive. There's unbearable suffering within a stone's throw, but we're going shopping. I can't help everyone. But I'll tell you something...I'm going to be there for my friend. And I'm sorry that I've looked the other way.