Sunday dawned dark and rainy. It was just the kind of weather I love. Amie had already left, probably for breakfast. I decided to sit in bed and surf the web. I clicked through pages of hyperbole. It’s amazing the tales that people tell when there is no accountability and little censorship. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I feel most people can discern for themselves what is believable.

I came upon a story about a Palestinian who walked into a Jewish market with a bomb strapped to his body under his clothing. A photo caught the chaotic aftermath of the resulting explosion. In the bottom right of the photo, a little girl of about 3 or 4 years of age looked helplessly at the camera. Her eyes showed her confusion about what was happening. I looked for a long time at her eyes. She seemed to say, “Where is my mommy? Why is everybody yelling all of a sudden?”

My heart filled with compassion for the child. I thought about the security and comfort of my own life contrasted with the life of this child and millions of other children and adults living daily with the specter of violence. I felt the tears begin to run down my cheeks. I set my laptop aside and put my face into my pillow and began to weep. I was overwhelmed by the unfairness of the evil thrust upon this child and so many others. I felt helpless. I thought of the cruel reality of the term, “Life’s not fair.”

I was beginning to regain my composure when Amie walked in the door with a tray. “Breakfast!” She stopped suddenly. “Jamie! What’s wrong?”

I didn’t trust myself to try to speak, so I pointed to the face of the little girl on my computer screen.

Amie looked at the child’s face several seconds, then turned to me. “Jamie, you are the sweetest, most tender-hearted person I’ve ever met. That’s one reason I love you so much.”

“Amie, there’s just so much pain in the world…unnecessary pain. I believe in God because I see His work, but I also believe in Satan, because I see his work. Some of those doing the work of Satan claim to be doing God’s work!”

“Well, Jamie, you can’t bear the world’s burdens. You can just be a good person, and you are a very good person.”

“Amie, I sometimes wish I could be a little less caring because it hurts. The breakfast you brought me here is probably more food than that little girl eats in a week. The rulers of some of those countries overseas live in castles and have servants or slaves, and they let their people starve. I can’t help but believe that such selfishness will someday, some way be punished.”

Amie looked at me and paused a second, then quoted, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

“Oh, my God! Who are you and what have you done with Amie?”
“I’ve read the bible too, Jamie. I just don’t have the whole thing in my head. I just keep certain key verses handy.”

“That’s a good one, but I certainly don’t plan on vengeance against anyone.”

The rain had been steady, but it began to pour. The roads were beginning to flood. “Wow! That’s beautiful! Amie, I can’t help it. I just love this kind of weather.”

“I like it, too. You can lie in bed and read or work on the computer without being tempted to go outside.”

“Good idea. Let’s knock out our homework.”

Homework didn’t take long. We assumed it would increase as the school year progressed. After that, we read and surfed the web just the way God intended that we spend a rainy Sunday. We rested up for another week of our lives of privilege and opulence.