Little children, and the adults who were trying to protect them, were killed last week, there are around 150 million orphans around the world, millions of people are still being killed due to genocide, children are being forced to become soldiers, people are kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery, adults and children are living on the streets wondering where their next meal is going to come from, AIDS, cancer, and a variety of other diseases are killing people way too soon...the list goes on and on...people are hurting. 

As I was driving home yesterday, the following song, written and performed by Jars of Clay, came on the radio.  The title of the song is, "Oh My God."  The third part of the song was described by Dan Haseltine as, "my personal story--why I cry out to God. In essence it is my rant about why things like suffering and despair happen (as quoted by Kevin Davis).  He goes on to say, "God is not afraid of our questions, or our anger. He wants us to call on Him “Oh My God” in prayer and it may seem arrogant, but it is part of the process of questioning what is going on around us.”  Here are the lyrics to the third part of the song...

"Some days I cannot forgive and these days mercy cuts so deep.  If the world was how it should be, maybe I could get some sleep.  While I lay, I dream we're better. Scales were gone and faces lighter.  When we wake we hate our brother, we still move to hurt each other.  Sometimes I can close my eyes and all the fear that keeps me silent, falls below my heavy breathing, what makes me so badly bent?  We all have the chance to murder, we all feel the need for wonder, we still want to be reminded that the pain is worth the thunder.  

Sometimes when I lose my grip I wonder what to make of heaven.  All the times I thought to reach up, all the times I had to give.  Babies underneath their beds, in hospitals that cannot treat them, all the wounds that money causes, all the comforts of cathedrals, all the cries of thirsty children-this is our inheritance.  All the rage of watching mothers- this is our greatest offense.  Oh my God." - Jars of Clay

I don't know where to start, but I know that we need to do more to help those in need.  We may not always understand why suffering and despair are part of our time on earth, but I know that when we take the time to help others through times of despair and take actions to remove suffering as much as possible, it somehow makes a difference.