more on Myanmar

I just received an e-mail from Sovereign Grace Ministries about a Burma Disaster Relief Fund their ministry has started to collect money for cyclone relief:

Burma Disaster Relief Fund

And here is a note from the e-mail:

Most importantly, please join us in praying that amid the destruction caused by Cyclone Nargis, victims of the storm would receive swift and effective help, and that many in Burma would hear and respond to the gospel.

I also found out yesterday about a Christian relief organization in China that is in one of the provinces most affected by yesterday's earthquake. They too are collecting money for disaster relief:

Caring for China

On Sunday I was reading in Ezekiel 34 and found a new passage about God's love for all peoples. I saw in this rebuke to the shepherds of Israel a challenge to the way that we use the wealth with which we've been blessed.

Here's a selection from the passage, but you really need to read the whole thing.

The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.