Passion. Ability. Reality. Joy.

I know it has been over a year since my last blog post. And for that I should be ashamed. It’s not that I haven’t had much to say, but rather I frankly just haven’t been motivated to say it.

But today is much different.

In the past two weeks, I’ve had a dear friend of mine in Atlanta experience first-hand the suffering of his daughter with a strange illness. I don’t keep up with him much anymore, and have only met the daughter a few times, but this one instance consumed me with grief and worry over her health and the emotional health of her parents. And I’m thankful that she is doing much better.

Then when I woke up this morning, I hear about the devastation in Japan. Now, normally something like this would upset me, but then I’d just figure out a way to help through financial giving and prayer. But see, I was just in Japan six weeks ago. I made lots of good friends. I have a connection with people there. So, now it’s personal.

It might as well have been in my own backyard.

After frantically sending emails and trying to call my friends in Tokyo, and then seeing some relieving updates from them on Facebook, the first part of my worry subsided. While my friends weren’t able to go home, they at least were able to continue with the breath of life given to them.

But I still can’t stop thinking about the others there, and how much they are suffering. I am overwhelmed with grief today.

You know, maybe I identify too much with situations like this, even if I only have a small connection. Both of these scenarios involved groups of people I have connection to, but in the grand scheme of relationships, they aren’t really close connections. But my heart is so freaking heavy right now over both of these