When the World Around Me Crumbles

I sit here today with stories and words jumbled inside me.  I have about 5 blogs rolling around in my head, but the truth of the matter is that every time I click to read the news another part of my heart slowly dies and I'm left wordless.  A bit extreme? Maybe.  Usually I read the news moderately unaffected.  Events, Turmoils, Wars, Politics, it goes in and out.  I keep current on world news because let's face it; I live in the world, I have a responsibility to know what is going on in my world.

Lately though...I don't want to know.

To the NorthEast:

• ISIS seizing Iraq's largest Christian town-I bet most of America doesn't even now there IS a Christian town in Iraq.

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/largest.christian.town.in.iraq.captured.by.islamic.militants/39394.htm

• More and more people becoming refugees-forced to live without food, water, and shelter.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/07/40000-iraqis-stranded-mountain-isis-death-threat   
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/friend-flees-horror-isis

To the North:

• More border wars as the Syrian conflict spills over

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/06/us-lebanon-security-arsal-idUSKBN0G616W20140806?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter

• Syria in Civil War for the last three years with no end in sight, just more and more people fleeing. 

To the West: 

• Stories out of Gaza, everyday with more and more people killed.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gaza-where-no-palestinian-safe

• The American church hating Palestinians with a fury that I will never understand http://www.christiantoday.com/article/the.awkward.truth.about.evangelicals.and.gaza/39393.htm
• The Iron Dome catching rockets in a city just 2km away from me.

To the South:

• Ebola breaking out in Liberia-people I know being transported back to American.  
• A man dying from Ebola in Saudi Arabia--now we are hitting closer to home. 

It doesn't help that I have friends who have relatives involved in many of these turmoils. It doesn't help that I have personal friends who are working in these regions, threatened by these turmoils.  It doesn't help that sit in the midst of it seemingly unaffected and feeling utterly helpless.

I find myself frustrated as I sit in my apartment overlooking many of these borders, hearing story after story.  Whether it's articles online, emails from friends, or stories in person, it's impossible to distant myself and impossible not to pray, as it seems the only thing to do right now.  While the world around me crumbles, I'm keenly aware of what anchors me and the hope that I have and I hold on to it.

*photo cred: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gaza-where-no-palestinian-safe/Oliver Weiken/EPA
**I've given you the links because I think it's important to read the stories.  It's important to hear it from all sides.  It's important to care and to know what is happening.