A call to compassion

This morning before our church service began there was a woman found on a picnic table bench a few hundred feet from where we gather that had committed suicide.  I apologize for starting this blog on such a sad note but I have something on my heart that stems from this mornings tragic event.  When I found out what happened I was first shocked and then very heart-broken.  A heaviness descended on my soul and I think it was the same for so many that heard.  I cried for this woman, I cried for her family and I cried for the sense of hopelessness that seems to flood people like this.

I began to think of people I may know who have that sense of hopelessness.  Quite honestly, if you don't know Jesus, you don't have hope.  It made me think about what a poor job I am doing praying earnestly for those same people.  What am I doing in my day to day life that infuses hope in people?  Not enough!

This mornings message was exactly what we all needed to hear.  It was a call to compassion.  Compassion is not a feeling, it is an action.  Compassion brings healing, it encourages, it helps those in need.  This is our calling.
every.
single.
day.

There are people, like this woman, who need it.  Maybe she just needed someone to talk to.  We will  never know.  I pray for her family and friends to be comforted through all of this and we can only hope and pray that our lives begin to radiate such hope that this lie of hopelessness will be cast down.

May we, as believers, step up to our call to compassion.

If you are one of the ones who feel hopeless, I just want you to know that there is hope.  My pastor put it so well this morning.  He said "The only place that there is no hope is hell."  That's so true.  As long as there is breath, there is hope.

Psalm 119:114 "You are my refuge and my shield; your word is my source of hope."

"Out of the darkness we will rise and sing."