This happens every November. I write for 31 days in October and then November comes and I have nothing to say.
But then a typhoon hit the Philippines and I can’t stop thinking about the people.
I think about walking through the streets of Manilla two springs ago and meeting the children there, one in particular: the child we sponsor through Compassion. Her name is Stacey.
I walked through the zoo on a hot day in May with our team of bloggers, the children we sponsored, and some of their parents. I worked hard to avoid the orangutan dressed in human clothes who was allowed to roam free in the zoo. (A clothed monkey! Not in a cage!) You haven’t lived until you’ve visited a zoo in a third world country.
I met Stacey’s mom that day and she seemed well enough that spring, but in her most recent letters, Stacey asks me to pray for her mom who she says can no longer walk. I’ve asked why not, but with the delay between our letters I’ve yet to get a clear answer from her.
Now, I wonder about Stacey’s mom – if you can’t walk, how do you evacuate when there is a typhoon? I don’t know the answer to that or any of the other thousands of questions that swirl around when something terrible like this happens.
For those living in the Philippines, we pray for rescue. We pray for comfort. We pray for food, for clean water, for provision. We pray for protection – though I admit it feels too late for that, but we pray for it now anyway.
We pray for hope.
When I first heard of this terrible storm, I turned to Compassion International for a glimpse of that hope. They have been keeping sponsors posted on the condition there as best they can at this time, but I still don’t know for sure if Stacey and her family are safe. If you would like to help children and families affected by Typhoon Haiyan, one way you can help is to visit Compassion to donate to the Disaster Relief and Stability Fund today.
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