Y'know, I'm happy the miners are safe, but isn't it interesting what America has learned through all of this. I know I'm especially ignorant when it comes to anything outside of my own little world, but I honestly wasn't aware that there are still coal miners like those that were trapped! I mean, I used to read books about the bulky, sullen men with coal dust clogging their lungs and staining their skin. I read one about a coal miner’s daughter that died of . . . was it lung cancer? Anyway, it was from breathing too much coal dust. It was one of those sappy stories about poor people in the 30's--a novel, and not a bit of truth to it. When I read the story of the miners in the newspaper, though, I was much more affected. This is true. These men live and work in the coal mines.

I had another little revelation similar to this one today. My brother wrote from Singapore. He's a Marine and he's there on tour. Anyway, he met up with some friends of his pastor back home. These friends pastor a church there so David (my brother) went to their church. After church, they took him on a tour of the temples. They even sat in on a service held in honor of a dead god's birthday. He described the rituals they performed and they were very similar to those in an Indiana Jones movie! Again, I was caught off guard. "I can't believe this stuff still goes on!" exclaimed my mother. Neither can I. But, like the coal miners, I am happy to find out about it. I'm grieved that it goes on, but I'm also grieved that I'm surprised. I wish I knew more about my neighbors. If there's one blessing I could wish on someone, it would be to have another person know them inside and out. God grants us the grace to give that blessing to others, but we don't always take that grace or use it in that way. I wish I would.

One more thing that struck me about my brother's e-mail: my mom was leery about David watching this ritual and the ceremony etc. Was it right? She wondered. However, how much of our sex-addicted, materialistic culture do we overlook, accept, and even embrace every day without thinking twice about it? Is that really better than watching some men allow themselves to be demon possessed? I really don't see much difference. Both cultures think they are doing the right thing as they plunge into their cesspools of evil. I hope I can learn to see everyone objectively and continue to compare them to myself, realizing I have so much more in common with them than I care to ever admit. I never want to be afraid to befriend the vilest of sinners because, in the words of Paul, “I am the vilest of sinners.”