Wow. Sometimes the sheer numbers of worldwide tragedies grab me by the throat and make it hard to breathe. We struggle in America to wrap our brains around the 2,985 people killed in the 911 attacks (and that’s a ton considering the nature of their deaths), but then a cyclone hits Myanmar and the death toll, already at 22,000 and expected to climb with over 40,000 still missing, is staggering.
Remember the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004? It killed 130,000 people in Indonesia another 35,000 in Sri Lanka. That’s 165,000 people wiped off the face of the earth and into eternity from one disaster! Obviously death tolls like that grab our attention, but I’m wondering if they really grab our hearts? Well, to be honest, I wonder if it really grabs my heart. Do I see those numbers in light of eternity? Man, I want to.
22,000. That’s like the town of Albemarle, NC being sucked up by the cyclone along with Locust, Oakboro, Badin, and Stanfield. Heck, you could even throw Richfield into that and you’d just start hitting 22k. Would that grab my heart? You better believe it. And if that gets me, then the 22,000 souls that got blown into eternity in Myanmar should shake me to the core, too.
