PhotoShow: GFA Pastor Left to Pick Up the Pieces, Trusts in His Lord
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Text from this PhotoShow: The emotions I feel, I can't put into words." In the aftermathof the tsunami that hit his Sri Lanka village, GFA Pastor Shantha faces loss like he has never know before. Now he is left to pick up the pieces. Poking through the rubble that once was his home, Shantha finds precious keepsakes hidden under large chunks of brick. Pastor Shantha holds in his hand an anklet that belonged to his baby girl. His 11-year-old son miraculously survived, but two-year-old Sridevi was killed in the tsunami waves. This water-soiled photograph of Pastor Shantha's family was taken at his baby girl's last birthday celebration. Now, the faces in the picture are hardly distinguishable. Pastor Shantha holds up a dress worn by his wife, Thresa. She, too, was swept away and killed in the tsunami waves. A punjabi dress, a sari, a housecoat — found in the debris — all poignant remiders of Pastor Shantha's beloved wife. Though Pastor Shantha has lost everything, his trust is in the Lord. Even in his excruciating grief, he is committed to continuing the ministry to which God called him. Desperately needed aid has been slow in reaching neglected areas such as this one. And each morning when they wake up, survivors are faced with a piering question: How will they rebuild their lives when they've lost everything? Through the ministry of GFA missionaries and relief workers, precious survivors who have lost so m uch are receiving physical aid and the Good News of comfort offered in Christ. And like Pastor Shantha, they, too, can find hope in the midst of their despair. post date 02/24/2005 |