Opportunities to help……

Ways to Partner 1 Comment

Tom here, and contrary to what it appears, I have not totally disappeared off the face of the earth. Let’s just say that I’ve been busy with:

  • Managing life at home.
  • Working at my “real” job.
  • Some behind the scenes things that will come out eventually.   Some of it sooner, some of it later, but suffice it to say God is doing a lot of really cool things.

I’m going to have a couple of opportunities to help on here in the next few days.  

Until I get them up, I wanted to share a couple of observations with you:

  • While God has been doing some amazing things, there are still a LOT of people in Haiti who are suffering and need help.   This disaster will change shape and take on different dimensions but it won’t go away, unfortunately, for years.   I’ve used this analogy with many people that right now we’re in the transition from a sprint to a marathon.    I’ve never run a marathon (nor do I plan to run a 26.2 race) but I do plan on running this marathon.   It’s what God requires of us.
  • I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the difference between the earthquake in Chile and the earthquake in Haiti.   Specifically, why did so many people die in Haiti and not nearly as many in Chile?   A couple of observations that illustrate why this is going to be a long road back:
    • The earthquake in Haiti happened very close to the surface (5 to 6 miles if I recall).    The earthquake in Chile was like 40 miles below the surface.    That makes the movements of ground significantly stronger with the Haitian earthquake.
    • Infrastructure – I got an e-mail after the earthquake from a supporter of GLA in Chile and I’m going to paraphrase what she told me:   “We are prepared for earthquakes here.   Our buildings are built to handle them, my husband and I have 2 weeks worth of food in our house at all times.   My heart goes out to those in Haiti who have nothing.”     So Chile has a building infrastructure that it takes to withstand earthquakes and they also have the industry and the governmental support to make sure that their structures are built that way.    On the Haitian side, we have buildings that are made of poorly constructed cement and in a country where there isn’t this thing called building codes or industry to support proper construction or a government that supports that as well.
  • It remains absolutely amazing how many people from so many different walks of life have and continue to pull together for the good of the people in Haiti.   If someone could arrange another 5 to 6 hours in my day, I should take the time and write them all down, maybe even in a way that I could share them all.

For now, remember this.   This disaster is big, but Our God is Bigger!

More soon,

Tom Vanderwell

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