Here's what I've been thinking...

As most of you have heard, I'm sure, my mom, dad, two sisters, and two brother-in-laws went on a one week trip to Haiti. They've been back for about three weeks now, I suppose. Sadly enough life has been so incredibly crazy, I've yet to hear a single story or see a single picture. But I got to see the results of being bitten by a disease-carrying mosquito that likes to live in Haiti.
Dengue fever.
Nasty, nasty sickness.
High fevers, intense pain, inability to eat causing severe dehydration.
I spent several days sitting in hospital rooms and trying to help others who were sitting in hospital rooms. I'm sure I've never seen anyone close to me so sick.
And I was very grateful to live in America. We are so blessed to have immediate access to health care here!
My mom went to the hospital severely dehydrated with very low platelet and white blood cell counts. Her doctor was concerned that she would need a platelet infusion. The hospital in Central City had no platelets, so they rushed her to Omaha just in case.
No, "How are you going to pay for this?"
or "I'm sorry. You'll have to wait your turn on the list of patients who need these platelets."
Just, "We will use every resource in our power to save your life."
We take this setup for granted. In fact, we'd be furious if we were not to receive this kind of treatment.
But how many people in the world don't have that luxury. How many people in Haiti die from dengue fever because no one has an IV to give their body essential fluids or Tylenol to keep their temperature down? This is such basic medicine!!!
And then, the cholera outbreak. Cholera is not a hard thing to prevent or treat - If you have access to clean water and basic medical supplies.
Something I take for granted.
Don't you?
The World Health Organization's website says that as of Oct. 27th, 303 people have died in this cholera outbreak in Haiti. I'm used to big numbers, and frankly, 303 doesn't sound like that many people to me. But every one of those people is loved by God. Each one was a mommy, a sister, a daddy, a brother, a friend, a neighbor. Thousands of people are crying themselves to sleep tonight in Haiti because someone they love is gone. And it's so simple to avoid!
I'm afraid it would make me seriously question the character of God to know that my mom was dying of an easily treatable disease and that she simply lives in the wrong place at the wrong time to be privileged enough to receive that treatment.
What kind of weak faith is that?
Believers in Haiti weep for their lost loved ones and their lost livelihoods and their lost homes just as we would in their position. But they do not question their God. He is all they have. And they have peace beyond understanding and indescribable joy in Him.
I'm so thankful to God for the things He has given me. For providing for all my needs and many of my wants. For protecting and healing my family.
But I'd like to think that if He chose not to - for some unknowable reason of His own - I would still love Him. I'd stand firm on the only rock I know will never shake. Jesus Christ. And I would cling to the tiniest thread of trust and faith in Him even when my world seemed to be falling apart around me. And I'd have joy and peace flowing from me because of Him!
I find myself asking God, "I know You're big enough to do such a work in a fairly uninteresting, mostly invisible, stay at home mom in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska?"
"But do you really want to?"
"And how?"
"Why put me here with all my comforts and protections instead of across the world with absolutely nothing but You between me and daily death??"
"Surely with this privilege comes great responsibility, so what do You want from me?"