Prayers for Nepal

It's been one week since the earthquake that killed thousands in Nepal. My heart broke for them as I cried and prayed. All of my friends are okay, but I find it hard to rejoice in that, when I know that thousands of other people died. So far the count is close to 7,000 and it is still rising.

Most of these thousands who died weren't Christians. We know this because way less than 1% of the population are Christians. Most are Hindu or Buddhist, a small percentage is Muslim. So besides a handful of people who might have heard of Jesus before, the rest of the thousands all died without knowing Jesus, some without even hearing his name.

And I can't peacefully drink my coffee or wash dishes or go for a walk without feeling the weight of all of those lives lost. I wish I was there, finding people, saving people, sharing with them the good news.

I think of all of the people I saw - the old man spinning his prayer wheel, the little girl who held my hand as we ran through her village, the sweet family who we stayed with in Tukche. Are they alive? Did they know?

Things like this happen all the time. Earthquakes and tornados and hurricanes. But it's never affected me because I never had a connection there. I spent a whole month last year, living with Nepalis, learning their language and culture. To know that some of them are gone breaks my heart. To know that most of them never knew Jesus breaks my heart even more.

What can I do before the next disaster? Before more people die without knowing. Before the next murder or the next child sold into sex slavery. What can I do to save these people before it is too late?

My heart hurts as people speed by me, drinking their Starbucks, bluetooth in their ear. What can I do before the next car accident, before the next divorce, before the next death.

I feel the urgency of spreading the gospel more than ever before. Everything within me wishes I was in Nepal, but commitments and college debt have tied me down for the time being. I can't wait until the time when God sends me and uses me to reach the unreached, to share the good news before it's too late. To love the locals before, after, and maybe even during the next natural disaster.

But until then, I'll pray. I'll pray with the urgency I feel that more lives will be saved. That those who survived the earthquake will find food and shelter and water. I'll pray for workers who can go now - that God uses them in amazing ways.

And I ask you to join with me in prayer. I'll share some pictures of my time in Nepal. Pray for them, pray for their villages. Pray for all of the unreached.

This morning as I write this post, this is the most recent news report. The video and pictures are heartbreaking. Click here to watch and read.