Mercy drops round us are falling

So today I had the day off today after working on "the Mother of all Spreadsheets" all day Friday, Saturday and most of Monday.

I slept until just about 10 a.m. - just in time to go over for coffee break at work. I decided to take some books, some podcasts and music to listen to, my journal and just camp out on these lovely rocks that are not too far from my office.

I ride or walk past this spot every day and recently I realized it would be a nice spot to come and relax. In Mali, I would sometimes go to the National Park and sit and read and was a bit sad that there was no similar place here, until I realized there was one right under my nose.

After listening to a podcast, reading a "Father Brown" story and then some in "Tell it Slant" by Eugene Petersen, I started writing in my journal. The rock I was on was a bit cold or hard or something so I moved to a smaller one out in the sun.

And then I looked down and saw something glistening in the grass. It looked like a diamond, or perhaps a piece of glass. I reached down half expecting to find an earring someone had lost in the grass. But it was a drop of dew, or perhaps a rain drop from last night's big rain. It was already 1 pm and I was a bit surprised to find either.

Then I started looking and there were drops on dozens of leaves.


The more I looked, the more there were. There are at least 5 drops in the picture below.




This is my favorite of the pictures, with the perfectly round drop in the middle of this leaf.



My rock was on a fairly well-traveled path, and 2 people came by and so I showed them the drops and we all shared the wonder together.

I began to think of the songs that compare God's Mercy to dew drops

 

"Mercy drops round us are falling. . . "

or

I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

---------------------

How often do I miss these drops of mercy, these signs of God's love? They are out there in the grass probably every day and I rush by them to the office.

As I was writing that in my journal, just to make sure I did not miss the wonder of the moment, God sent me a little TINY praying mantis who hopped right up in my journal.

He stopped a while on the word "budget" and decided his leg needing cleaning.




Somehow he was entirely fearless. I put him on my pen and he scrambled off and even crawled up the page as I turned the pages.



So those were my gifts from God today.

If it's been a while since you stopped to sit quietly and make room for God to surprise you with wonder and grace, do it.

[PS. if you like the pics, you can see them in full res at https://www.flickr.com/photos/timthast/]

Ebola Virus Disease - Giving Opportunities

The past several weeks I have been busy developing an Ebola Crisis Response for our organization for the countries where we work in Africa. We don't do health work, so mostly we have been thinking through the "what if it spreads to where we are" scenarios. I have received good input from some experts and spent a lot of time reading the internet news and it is sobering. 

Basic information can be found about Ebola on the WHO site here. An update with Recent stats can be found here (look for most recent date). As of Aug 28 there have been 1552 deaths out of a total of 3069 infected. As of Sept 6, there have been 2,296 deaths out of 4293 cases. [That's a thousand new cases in a week!] The good news is that the death rate seems to be about 55% for this outbreak instead of 90% which was first reported. 

This outbreak now has more victims than all the other Ebola outbreaks combined since its first appearance in the 1970s. More than 40 percent of the cases in this outbreak have been recorded in the past 3 weeks. 

The WHO is saying that we should expect a total of 20,000 cases and that this may not be under control for another 6 to 9 months. Everyone seems to be saying that global efforts are behind the curve on resolving this and that we must act now. 

What is surprising me is that I am not seeing a massive appeal to GIVE towards Ebola eradication. We have just seen the ALS ice-bucket challenge which raised over $100 million according to Wikipedia. Sadly, we are not seeing the same response in giving to the Ebola Crisis. 
Everywhere I look I see desperate cries for resources: such and such a group just got 35 beds for their isolation and treatment center but have twice that many patients and some are on the ground. Or that they don't have enough gloves or Personal Protection Equipment (gloves, masks, suits), etc. The need for funding, supplies, and people on the ground is great. 
The UN just released a total need of $600 million. 
And that UN figure has been revised to $1.26 billion to fight Ebola in West Africa. This figure has doubled in less than a month!. 

I'm not in the habit of asking you for money, but this is a serious need affecting a lot of countries who simply do not have the means or infrastructure to handle this. 

Would you consider giving to one of these organizations working to combat Ebola in Africa? (links below)
There are no stipulations here and you don't have to challenge your friends. If you want to share the link to my blog or any of these sites, that would be fine though. 

Doctors without Borders - Medicins Sans Frontiers - MSF has been responding to the outbreak since March, and now has 1,327 staff working in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, treating a rapidly increasing number of patients. DWB/MSF is traditionally the go-to organization for medical relief. 

• Doctors without Borders: US site, UK site, Canada site 

• Medicines Sans Frontiers (France)

• Ärzte ohne Grenzen (Germany)

Center for Disease Control (Atlanta) - Together with the WHO, the CDC is coordinating much of the research and testing of Ebola. 

Red Cross

Global Giving: Text GIVE 17793 to 80088 to donate $10 to GlobalGiving Ebola Epidemic Relief Fund.( texting only works in US)

Christian ministries focused on specific countries or aspects of the work

Samaritan's Purse: This is the mission which had the well-publicized case of Dr Kent Brantley and SIM nurse who were medevacked to the US after treating ebola patients.

SIM. Run the ELWA hospital in Liberia where a lot of the treatment is happening, including that done by Nancy Writebol who was also medevacked. To give, go to this page and search for Ebola. 

World Renew (formerly CRWRC): education and prevention efforts in Sierra Leone and Liberia. 

Women of Hope International: producing training materials for use in Sierra Leone and elsewhere. Our organization is hoping to translate some of these into local languages. 

CAMA (Christian and Missionary Alliance): Ebola Awareness and Preventation training in Guinea. [New] Pray for their team members who were abudcted Sept 17, 2014. 

You could also check out your church or denomination sites to see if they have giving options. 

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, ... When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:35-40

To check out any of these organizations and their track record with donations, please go to one of these sites. 
http://www.charitynavigator.org/ - general
http://www.ecfa.org/ - for Christian organizations