The Hole in our Gospel Reading Program—Week Eleven 

Chapter Nine: One Hundred Crashing Jetliners

“One Hundred Jetliners Crash, Killing 26,500.”

That’s the context that Mr. Stearns used to help us visualize the statistics.

When one jetliner crashes, killing hundreds, it makes the front page of newspapers around the world.  However, when more than 26,000 African children die daily of malnutrition there is scarcely an uttered whisper of their plight.

Stearns suggests that our relational and geographical distance from these suffering children combined with how inundated we are with publicized tragedies in our daily news consumption serve to insulate us from the horror of this reality.

As Christians we aren’t supposed to live in cloistered isolation; we are supposed to be salt and light in the parts of the world that need hope the most.

I am certainly guilty of being only marginally affected by horrific global news reports. As Stearns said, “I, too, struggle to mourn over these kids as if they were my own. I can get easily distracted by the details of my own life and family.”[1]

While it’s very natural to feel more concern for our own family members, one of our Christian aims should be to have an ever-increasing love for the entire world.

Here are a couple of simple first steps we can take toward growing in our love for the children of the world:

1. Ask God to increase our love and compassion
2. Subscribe to, and read, the blogs of World Vision, Compassion International, and other humanitarian organizations that directly serve these children.
3. Sponsor a child. If you have yet to begin sponsoring a child, please do so right away. For a few dollars a month, you can start a ripple effect that could positively affect many, many lives. To sponsor a child click here.