This morning while driving I heard it on the radio that today was the National Prayer day. The host on the Christian station urged that we pray for America, that America will head to the ‘right direction.’ I am growing each day more uncertain of what the ‘right’ direction looks like in our society, so the notion of praying for my country for a direction I don’t know made me switch the station back to KUT. Joy was on the radio and her piece on the diminishing African American community in Austin ran beautifully. Then I checked my facebook as I stopped on a red light and my pastor’s status asked people to pray for the nation. It read prayers can not only change a heart but a nation. So I turned off the radio. And I prayed. 

Compassion.
It was the only word that came to my mind. 
  
I think about the children and the teachers who were shot at Sandy Hook.  I think of Syria where bombings and raids have become a normality. I think of starving detainees in Guantanamo who have been imprisoned without a trial for a decade and now being forced-fed. I think of Bangladesh where 400 people, 400 people, who were making less than $25 a month, were killed in a factory fire. 

Despite the gravity of their despairs, life will go on. Life will go on for the fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters who have lost their loved ones. They will somehow garner up the strength to carry on. They will remember the beauty in the simplest things. They will learn to live with a pain that no words or amount of time can heal.  One way or another, they will see that the ground they stand on will remain and wait for them to take another step.  They will love, give, share, suffer and endure, yet again. Life is resilient. 

But their resilience should never excuse our inaction. 

I don’t know how I will be a part of Jesus’s work. I don’t know when the Spirit will lead me to places I only dare dream of going. But when, how or where I go is irrelevant. The heart He has given me to care, to weep, to love, to pray and fast for His people is the only thing that matters. To live out His compassion alone will stand tried and true. 

“The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love.” Gal 5:6

Faith expressing itself through love. 
I pray that we will be nation of compassion where we express our faith in humanity through loving, serving and caring for those near and far. 

Part, a significant part, of being a reporter is distinguishing which voice to listen to. Deciding which opinion’s worth amounts to, well, shit.

It’s one of the hardest parts of the job but I am learning the art — both in the work field and in my personal life.

Brushing my shoulders off and here I go again.

The amount of information I gather out of one chapter of a book is a terrifying, humiliating and gut-wrenching reminder of the unread, unheard and unknown bits of reality that I so naively claim a residency in.

I’d be foolish to wish that I would gain overnight a wholistic perspective of a region when I can’t understand even the root of my fascination for it. But the unknown is daunting especially when there lacks an justified excuse for not consuming information incessantly.

I desire for courage to not cave in. I ask for endurance to take one step at a time, even two steps backwards, when necessary - all to map out my passion to meet my calling one day. Whether the calling be in Kabul or not, that I will be humble before Jesus and honest with myself.

theatlantic:

In Focus: Iraq War’s 10th Anniversary: The Invasion

A decade ago, the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq on the premise that the country was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Despite worldwide protest and a lack of UN authorization, 200,000 thousand troops deployed into Iraq in March of 2003, following massive airstrikes. The coalition faced minimal opposition, and Baghdad quickly fell. For years after President George W. Bush’s “mission accomplished” speech, the war raged on, fueled by sectarian conflicts, al Qaeda insurgencies, outside agencies, and mismanagement of the occupation. Ten years later, we look back in a three-part series. Today’s entry focuses on the March 20, 2003, invasion of Iraq, and the weeks immediately following. This entry is part 1 of 3, be sure to come back tomorrow for part 2, and part 3 on Wednesday.

See more. [Images: AFP/Getty/AP/Reuters]

The Iraq War is the single biggest mishap America has made in the 21st century in a foreign soil. Though the immediate consequence of it is primarily felt by our soldiers and their families, the gravity of this failure will be played out in sectors we gravely dread, but most hauntingly, it is felt in the aching land far away, Middle East, and define the region for generations to come.  And ultimately, it will all come back to us.

I just wished my mom a good night who is reading a book next to my dad who so sternly demanded that we put the two twin size beds together in the guest room so that he can sleep next to my mom.

I closed the door and felt a throbbing pain in my chest. My families are here. My parents are here. The love of my life that existed even before I was born out of her womb is here.

They will be gone by this time around next week but they are here now. Love that overwhelms my entire being is here.

You already have. What could stop you now from doing further?
March 10, 2013. In between breezy trees and a cup of iced americano, I asked him if he thinks I can make the world a better place. I stood ready for his usual teasing remarks to make light of my often hearty questions. But he said those words with eyes full of heart. Moment like this, it has to be You. Thank You for your overwhelming, constant love.

”.. Apart from me, you can do nothing.”

” I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 

Notice it’s not “apart from me, you can’t do the special things I have planned for you but you will be alright, do average or even rise above if you work hard.”

Jesus is clear. Apart from him, I can’t do anything. Nothing is possible apart from him.