Not a Crisis...

• Having to cut back on Lattes is not a crisis.
  
• Banks being forced to be more discerning in lending money is not a crisis.
• Circuit City not selling enough electronics is not a crisis.
• A few less gifts under the Christmas tree is not a crisis.
• The head of Ford, GM, and Chrysler having to fly commercial instead of private jet is not a crisis.

This is a crisis:

Nov. 6, 2008:  Young Protegee carries her niece, Response, as she looks for her parents in the village Kiwanja, 90 kms north of Goma, eastern Congo.  Protegee was in a crowd of thousands in the town of Kiwanja, having walked for three days by herself after being separated from her mother as they fled on foot from her town about 12 miles (20 kilometers) away. Protegee finally found her mother, Esperance Nirakagori, in Kiwanja at a makeshift refugee camp six days after they were separated. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Nov. 6, 2008:  Children who have been abandoned or orphaned by war eat dinner at the Don Bosco center in Goma in eastern Congo, November 20, 2008. Fighting in eastern Congo has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians in recent weeks, with 1,519 people taking shelter in the Don Bosco school compound. There were 89 children with no parents among them. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly)

• If my child spent 6 days trying to find me in the midst of a war zone, I would call it a crisis.
• If half the population of my state was homeless, I would call it a crisis.
• If women and girls are being raped by soldiers in front of their fathers and husbands, I would call it a crisis.

To view a haunting photo essay of the humanitarian crisis in the Congo, click here.

If you are interested in helping with a real crisis, click here.  

"May my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God." ~Bob Pierce

p.s. This gives a new definition to the term "working mom":

Nov. 19, 2008: Furah carries wood and her eighteen-month-old daughter Shukyru, on the road linking Rupango to Sake, eastern Congo. Furah walks the 16 kms every day, crossing from the CNDP rebel controlled area to the government held town of Sake to sell wood. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)