# Orlando - what can we do?



## Tirian (Jun 14, 2016)

*Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.*

It is hard to imagine the depths of pain being felt in Orlando right now. Perhaps there are some here on the board who are directly impacted or know people who are impacted - your hearts must be aching.

I know that during severe bushfires here in Victoria a few years back, several pastors - without a great deal of preparation - drove up into the affected areas to minister to people in pain, suffering unimaginable burdens. They became an important part of the healing process for many - outside the church as well as inside. The counselled, they cried, they cleaned and they comforted even when there were no words to be said.

We are praying for the loved ones who are now grieving, for the emergency personnel that responded and will have to deal with what they saw and what they experienced, and for your politicians in the middle of a campaign. Political point scoring over no guns, more guns, immigration etc will no doubt happen and cause more pain in the midst of immense suffering.

Prayer is already happening. What else can we do to help? *If there are churches/pastors in Florida seeking financial gifts in order to provide much needed ministries of mercy could you please let me (us) know how we could contribute?* No doubt pastoral staff will be worked to the bone in the coming days and weeks - let us know if we can contribute in any way.

God bless,
Matt


----------



## Edward (Jun 14, 2016)

Since the leftist media has tended to bury the story, I'll mention it here. Chick-fil-a, which is normally closed on the Lord's Day, opened several of its Orlando area restaurants to make food and sweet tea which they donated to a couple of blood drives and to the first responders.


----------



## Ryan&Amber2013 (Jun 14, 2016)

The shooter worshiped at a mosque that is about 8 minutes down the street from our house. He lived just a few minutes from my work.


----------



## Tirian (Jun 14, 2016)

Edward said:


> Since the leftist media has tended to bury the story, I'll mention it here. Chick-fil-a, which is normally closed on the Lord's Day, opened several of its Orlando area restaurants to make food and sweet tea which they donated to a couple of blood drives and to the first responders.



I read that on Facebook - seems that no press want to pick that up and run with it. But thank God for the owners/managers of Chick-fil-a!


----------



## Edward (Jun 14, 2016)

Tirian said:


> But thank God for the owners/managers of Chick-fil-a!



The family that owns Chick-fil-a (and Dwarf House and Truett's Grill) are mainstream Southern Baptists.


----------

