The Task At Hand

P.O Box 1540, Albany Western Australia 6331
Phone/Fax: (08) 98 418 418
E-mail: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

The Task At Hand
Friend, have you ever suffered from paralysis because of the enormity of a task at hand? This company has to be turned around. My family is in crisis. The nation is at risk. My church is in decline. These are all familiar themes. And the sad truth is that not every sinking ship can be floated. Some promising starts will end as dismal failures. Then there are the personal challenges you encounter. There always seems to be a worthy charity that needs money to help children. You hear the call for volunteers at your child's school or from your church. Someone you know is struggling with drug addiction or has lost her job. There are so many needs. You might begin with the awareness that you can't do everything that needs to be done. You can't right all the wrongs. You can't help everyone who is in trouble. It is arrogant to think you can; it is self-destructive to try. Even Jesus didn't try to shoulder so heavy a responsibility. And occasionally he withdrew from the press of demands being made on him. He could help many, but not all. So what are you and I supposed to do in the face of crippling poverty and drug or alcohol addiction? How are we supposed to respond to droughts, cyclones, floods, unemployment, and hungry children? How can you be God's instrument of hope in a world that is filled with troubles and heartache? Dr. Fumio Shigeto was waiting for a tram about a mile from the centre of Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. There was a blinding fireball when an American bomber dropped an atomic bomb that had the destructive equivalent of thousands of tonnes of TNT. Many square kilometres of one of the chief supply depots of the Japanese Army was devastated, and 60% of its buildings destroyed. Sheltered by the corner of a concrete building at his distance from the blast, Dr. Shigeto survived. He began hearing the screams of victims almost immediately. Not knowing what had happened, he stood bewildered and overwhelmed at the carnage. He was only one doctor wondering how he could respond to a city filled with thousands of desperately wounded patients. He knelt down, opened his black bag, and treated the person lying at his feet. Friend, Dr. Shigeto's experience is our own. Having survived alcoholism or divorce, toxic church life or childhood abuse, what is your calling? Having put your life together after cancer, job loss, or a child's death, where should you focus your attention? Well, as I consider these questions I have just asked, it seems to me that the best answer is to help someone near you. Reach out to somebody whose grief you know. And without making that person dependent on you, help him or her with what you have learned. The truth is, you can't address every need. But you can do something. Since Life's losses are very real, we must face them honestly while looking for a way through them that will benefit us personally. If we benefit from our life experiences we are likely to be more sympathetic and understanding to others in their losses. Over the years, I have been privileged to meet many people in their joys. I've shared their moments of triumph and their hours of success. But, more frequently, I meet a human being in his moment of frustration, or his day of loneliness, or his year of heartache. In fact, in the area of loss in a person's life I've found the closest identity to another human being. And in seeking meaningful survival together, we know each other more intimately. You see, the vital need of every person who faces significant life losses, is that someone must move alongside of us and save us from drowning in the emotions of defeat, despair, frustration and hopelessness. If you are seeking help in regard to overcoming significant losses in your own life, or would like to help others live above life's losses, I invite you to write for a FREE booklet titled "Can a person live above life's losses?" To receive your copy, just write to me at: P.O. Box 1540, Albany, W.A. 6331. You can also Phone/Fax your request on: (08) 9841 8418. E-mail: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

The Task At Hand

Friend, have you ever suffered from paralysis because of the enormity of a task at hand? This company has to be turned around. My family is in crisis. The nation is at risk. My church is in decline. These are all familiar themes. And the sad truth is that not every sinking ship can be floated. Some promising starts will end as dismal failures.

Then there are the personal challenges you encounter. There always seems to be a worthy charity that needs money to help children. You hear the call for volunteers at your child's school or from your church. Someone you know is struggling with drug addiction or has lost her job. There are so many needs.

You might begin with the awareness that you can't do everything that needs to be done. You can't right all the wrongs. You can't help everyone who is in trouble. It is arrogant to think you can; it is self-destructive to try. Even Jesus didn't try to shoulder so heavy a responsibility. And occasionally he withdrew from the press of demands being made on him. He could help many, but not all.

So what are you and I supposed to do in the face of crippling poverty and drug or alcohol addiction? How are we supposed to respond to droughts, cyclones, floods, unemployment, and hungry children? How can you be God's instrument of hope in a world that is filled with troubles and heartache?

Dr. Fumio Shigeto was waiting for a tram about a mile from the centre of Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. There was a blinding fireball when an American bomber dropped an atomic bomb that had the destructive equivalent of thousands of tonnes of TNT. Many square kilometres of one of the chief supply depots of the Japanese Army was devastated, and 60% of its buildings destroyed.

Sheltered by the corner of a concrete building at his distance from the blast, Dr. Shigeto survived. He began hearing the screams of victims almost immediately. Not knowing what had happened, he stood bewildered and overwhelmed at the carnage. He was only one doctor wondering how he could respond to a city filled with thousands of desperately wounded patients. He knelt down, opened his black bag, and treated the person lying at his feet.

Friend, Dr. Shigeto's experience is our own. Having survived alcoholism or divorce, toxic church life or childhood abuse, what is your calling? Having put your life together after cancer, job loss, or a child's death, where should you focus your attention? Well, as I consider these questions I have just asked, it seems to me that the best answer is to help someone near you. Reach out to somebody whose grief you know. And without making that person dependent on you, help him or her with what you have learned. The truth is, you can't address every need. But you can do something.

Since Life's losses are very real, we must face them honestly while looking for a way through them that will benefit us personally. If we benefit from our life experiences we are likely to be more sympathetic and understanding to others in their losses. Over the years, I have been privileged to meet many people in their joys. I've shared their moments of triumph and their hours of success. But, more frequently, I meet a human being in his moment of frustration, or his day of loneliness, or his year of heartache. In fact, in the area of loss in a person's life I've found the closest identity to another human being. And in seeking meaningful survival together, we know each other more intimately. You see, the vital need of every person who faces significant life losses, is that someone must move alongside of us and save us from drowning in the emotions of defeat, despair, frustration and hopelessness.

If you are seeking help in regard to overcoming significant losses in your own life, or would like to help others live above life's losses, I invite you to write for a FREE booklet titled "Can a person live above life's losses?" To receive your copy, just write to me at: P.O. Box 1540, Albany, W.A. 6331. You can also Phone/Fax your request on: (08) 9841 8418. E-mail: abl-alb@omninet.net.au