#prayforparis?

I was climbing a mountain in southeast Africa while people were being massacred in France.

10 months ago, this same mountain-top would have overlooked a flood that devastated the people of Malawi, Africa. We’re talking entire villages underwater, houses swept away, a quarter of a million people displaced, etc.

This enormous flood didn’t get very much media attention. Most calamities or atrocities that happen in Africa don’t. You may or may not have heard about the 142 students in Kenya who were slaughtered in April?

While on top of this mountain I spent a lot of time thinking about how self-centered the western world is. I was genuinely annoyed when my newsfeed blew up with French-ified profile pictures.

Naturally, I started writing a derogatory blog post. I’m pretty good at succinctly pointing out hypocrisy.

But I stopped. I looked up from my computer, and I thought… “what the f*ck am I doing?”

That’s literally what I thought.

People died. An entire city was terrorized. One of the most evil organizations to walk the face of this earth just won a battle. And I’m about to pat myself on the back for diminishing other people’s solidarity?

There’s a time and place for encouraging the first world to have a broader, more global, perspective. Immediately after a horrific tragedy is not that time.

It’s time for prayer.