All Shook Up

There are times in life when your reality is deeply shaken through a series of events. Today has been one of those days. It has been a fairly normal day but as I was sitting here waiting for my lunch date to call, I decided to browse around on what's been going on in my friends' lives through the wonderful world of blogging. Let me preface by saying that things in my life have been somewhat difficult lately - there have been a lot of issues that have been weighing on my heart and my mind that have me questioning....waiting.....clinging. And today I have been reminded of how incredibly self-centered I have been.

A man and his companion, going to visit friends. Mistaken for someone else, they were both brutally and senselessly murdered. Realizing they had just killed the wrong people, the murderers drug the bodies to a nearby village, essentially framing the innocent village for their crime. Meanwhile, word gets back home. An innocent, loving, hardworking husband and father of 5 has been killed. In retaliation and anger, the friends and family of the slain attack the village where the bodies were found - burning everything and killing all of the animals. The innocent village then, robbed of all their possessions for a crime they did not commit, react with vengeance upon the original perpetrators. A war is still raging in the mountains between two villages - the framed and the guilty.

Back in St. Louis du Nord, the town weeps. Thousands of mourners file into the funeral of the men, wailing for the lost and comforting those left behind. The wife and mother of five falls apart. Being HIV positive, her body is already weak. She cannot support a family of six by herself. She decides to part with three of her children, sending them to an orphanage in another town. The children, not quite comprehending what has happened, are excited to go to the orphanage because it means they can eat. The oldest child, of only nine years, stays to help care for the youngest child of 18 months, who is also HIV positive.

A man murdered. A town shattered. A family ripped apart. All because of a mistaken identity.

This has been the life of my friend Heather this past week. Left to comfort and encourage, yet finding the questions of "Why" incredibly hard to answer. Yet she stays. She loves. She prays and she cries. And she lives a life worthy of the calling she has received.

Please pray for her.