Acquainted with grief

Years ago, in Old Testament Survey, Dr. Kilpatrick pointed out a connection between Exodus 3:7 and Isaiah 53:3--that God had seen Israel's sorrows, could understand because, in Jesus, He is a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Much of the art here has to do with death. There are many suicides in this city. People die due to gang violence, treatable illnesses, H1N1, careless driving, and many other causes. In the poorer parts of the city, pretty much every house has someone in it who is fatally addicted to a chemical used in tanning letter. They are acquainted with grief.

Reading Job always reminds me how little I've really had to do with grief. Sure, I have grieved, but death is not so ever-present in the States as it is in other places. Last night, while we were in our prayer meeting, a car hit a pedestrian. As far as I know, the pedestrian was able to walk away, but there are a lot of those accidents here. This morning, at the Bible study in Medina, I looked at the ladies, and many of them had the marks of hard lives across their faces. One of the ladies is pregnant and is being treated for cancer.

Pray for the people of this city, that they would come to know the Man of Sorrows as their faithful companion, their sympathetic High Priest, that they would see that they don't need another intercessor, and that they would trust Him only.

Tomorrow morning I'm sharing with the kids' class again about my time in Canada. Please pray for me for that, that I'd have the right words.

Thank you for praying!