SENTINEL WATCH August 4, 2003 Issue

Prayer for refugees

BY BEVERLY GOLDSMITH

IMPOVERISHED AND CRUELLY TREATED people around the world are crying out for the right to live in peace—for liberty and justice. But when pleas of people living in desperate conditions for help go unheeded, many choose the next best thing. They leave.

Leaving home, job, or kin may seem incomprehensible to those living in a stable country. Yet, as I write, a large-scale exodus of people around the world is taking place as they move from one area to another, seeking asylum. The growing number of refugees leaving Africa and the Middle East is affecting many European countries. And such desperate people have even tried to make it to Australia on board fishing boats in the hope that they will be offered sanctuary here.

The refugee crisis has become a major focus of my prayer for the world. I believe that we all have a divine right to a safe and viable life. Though I may not know how this will be accomplished for every person on this planet, I believe there is a divine power ready and able to respond to everyone's need.