A New Challenge

Something has been on my mind for a while now and I haven’t been quite sure what to do with the thought.  That something is Syria.  The situation in Syria has been on my mind for over two years now (you can check some of my videos from 2013).  Especially the plight of the christian minority in the country.  This past week I watched a live webcast from the GC2 Summit it was a gathering of christian leaders discussing what to do about the refugee crisis currently facing world leaders primarily Europe and the Middle East.

The size of the problem is enormous the cause is worthy but what to do?  I was brought to tears by the video of the lifeless body of the toddler on the beach and then the image of lifeless bodies floating in the water as a victims of crossing the Mediterranean sea.  One presenter stated that over 3000 immigrants a day were entering into Greece at one point.  At some points I was just listening sometimes I watched.  But what I took away from the webcast was the need to step up and do something.  What that something is I have yet to figure out but I am setting a goal to do something this year, it may be small but hopefully it will make some kind of difference to someone.  The whole situation brought to mind a story I once heard at the YMCA it goes something like this:

One day a man was walking along the beach when he came upon a cove where the beach was covered with star fish that had washed up on the shore.  As the waves rolled in more starfish continued to wash up on the beach.  The man bent over, picked one up and threw it back into the ocean.  This went on for some time when a younger man came along the beach.  He stopped and watched the man pick up a star fish and throw it back into the water but he also saw as the waves continued tossing more star fish on beach. This went on for quite some time, finally he couldn’t stand it any longer he approached the man and asked what he was doing. 

“Sir” he said “you know that for every star fish you throw back into the ocean 100 more wash up on the beach?” 

The man turned and looked at the youth but said nothing.

“Why are you wasting your time?” he insisted, ” It just doesn’t matter.”    The man bent over picked up another star fish and threw it back into the ocean.  Then he turned to the young man and said “It matters to that one.”

It may seem that the issue is so large that nothing matters but even the smallest effort can make the difference to one.  In the next few weeks I’ll be exploring different options I can take to help make a difference in this huge problem…one starfish (person) at a time.