They're saying that at least 150,000 Haitians died in that monster quake. Imagine - 150,000 people who were here one day and gone the next day. It's staggering! But something hit me when I heard that death toll. More than 150,000 people go into eternity every day on this planet - ready or not.
We'll take any hope we can get from Haiti. More came today.
When it seemed that no one else could still be alive in all those collapsed buildings, a boy thought he heard a voice from the rubble of a bank building. The husband of a woman who worked there had been frantically trying to find his wife. When the boy told that man about what he had heard, the husband went for a nearby rescue team from California.
CNN and other networks went to church yesterday. In Haiti, that is. Because the faith celebrated there Sunday has become part of the story of Haiti's darkest hour.
It's not a surprise to those of us who have been with these precious brothers and sisters. Some of them live every day with a tenacious faith that sustains them through their grinding poverty. And when they worship, it's not all buttoned down like so many American churches. It's exuberant!
It's hard to stop watching what's happening in Haiti. The days I've spent ministering among those precious people have bonded my heart to that place, and broken my heart for what I'm seeing. Time is running out in Haiti. There will be years to rebuild, but only hours to rescue. Who can wait for the professional rescuers or the right equipment?
The sadness in Haiti is overwhelming even seasoned reporters. One anchorman just said, "As the images continue to fill our screens here in the newsroom, I find myself starting to turn away. Because after a while, it's just more than..." and his voice drifted off.
I'm on the road speaking, but every minute I'm in my room, I'm watching the tragedy in Haiti today. I've been there, walked some of those streets that are now canvasses of death and destruction, made friends whose fate is unknown, seen their misery and their amazing resilience, and recorded indelible memories of the precious little children. I'm a words guy, but words fail me. Heartbroken is as close as I can get to describing how I feel.
You're almost afraid to have a hero these days. Because over and over, heroes keep falling off their pedestals. Another one did this week.
Tiger Woods is the most highly paid professional athlete on earth. And he's been one of the most admired and sought after. Then the script of Tiger's terrible Thanksgiving, a script too crazy for any of us to write. In the middle of the night, he gets into a relatively minor accident right in front of his own house. That accident damaged a tree, a Cadillac Escalade - and, ultimately, a reputation. Because the doors blew off Tiger Woods' closet, and hidden relationships were suddenly out in the open.
I'm watching TV news and seeing all those parents desperately searching for a hamster. An electronic hamster, to be specific. Otherwise known by the unlikely name, Zhu-Zhu Pets. Apparently, it's this Christmas' MVP - Most Valuable Plaything.
I remember my first skiing lesson. Like just about everyone else on the bunny slope that day, I fell a few times. The only part of me that got a little beat up from that fall was the part God designed for that purpose. But today the entertainment world is mourning the sudden and shocking death of Natasha Richardson-from a head injury sustained in a fall on the beginner's slope.
When I heard a commercial airliner was down in the Hudson River, I feared the worst. I flipped on cable news, expecting the worst. It was the kind of story that almost always includes a tragic death toll. I was stunned to learn that every passenger got out alive and largely unscathed. The difference? The man at the controls.
