Red Letters: Chapter 3 (The Cradle of Civilization)

See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
--Matthew 18:10-14

Africa.

Desert. Safari. Hot. Africans. Zebras. Simba Trees. Third-World. Dusty Feet. Dirty Water. Hunger. HIV/AIDS. Slavery. Genocide.

How did we get from the land of Lion King to things like hunger, HIV/AIDS, slavery and genocide? Well the above train of thought was conjured up by my sisters and dad when I just asked them what came to mind when you think of Africa. (And for the record, my thoughts began at dusty feet.) But these are all things that have happened in Africa, while the rest of the world sits on their couch eating popcorn and watching American Idol. (or something like that)

Tom says that apathy in the hearts of the people of the world allowed these things to occur. He also says that if we would have acted with compassion, and if we would make our voices heard, then these things could have been prevented. Agreed. Apathy sucks! And I'm guilty.

[This chapter was informative and full of statistics, no Biblical references.]

So, this is a short post, but I'll leave you with this statistic:

By the end of 2005, the HIV/AIDS epidemic had left behind 15.2 million AIDS orphans.

It's time that we open our eyes to the AIDS crisis in Africa!