KEY SCRIPTURE. Galatians 6:2  

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

RELEVANCE

People only ask for help in times of trouble, and trouble besets us all. Not one of us gets through life without burdens, some of which bring us to our knees. 

Such a case is underway.

The granddaughter of a friend of mine, around one-year-old, was diagnosed with an 80mm tumour on one of her kidneys. The tumour is larger than her little kidney. As if that wasn't enough for someone that young, when the doctors looked further, they found spots on her lungs.

I don't blame you for asking how this could happen to an innocent child with no cancer history on either side of the family. But it did. 

This is one of those instances where help is needed, and our greatest helper is our Lord and Saviour. Calls for prayer went out immediately, but the parents were up against some big odds. Since the child would be in a Brisbane hospital for a while, the parents, who lived near the Sunshine Coast, nearly two hours away, would need accommodation in Brisbane and obviously couldn't work for that time. 

It's when in these devastating situations we find the depth of people.

Firstly, they were offered accommodation at Ronald McDonald House, which meant they could remain close to their hospitalised one-year-old, who is now undergoing chemotherapy. While they were away in Brisbane, other churchgoers went to the house and gave it a spring clean just to make their return a bit special. 

Then, a friend of theirs developed a gofundme page to raise money to help finance various things while they are absent from work. When it got to $3000, the father wept, astounded by the generosity, saying, "Now I don't need to go to work next week. I can stay with my wife and daughter!"

Presently, the amount has risen to $28,000.

Upon hearing of the issue, people couldn't wait to donate $30, $50, or $100. Some donated as much as $1000 and $2000.

Folks, the generous heart is not dead in Australia, not by a long shot. Some donors are Christians, and some aren't, but each has picked up a bit of this couple's cross and carried it for a while. 

People often balk at donating money. They stop at the line that says, "I'll be thinking of you" or " You're in our prayers." So it's nice to see so many bountiful souls giving a helping hand to someone else.

I might mention that many of the donors preferred to remain anonymous, while other givers don't even know the parents. 

As heart-wrenching as this story is, it has brought people together in a common cause of lifting the family up in a time of crisis. 

If we want to know how to bear each other's burdens, this message teaches us some ways. 

PRAYER

Dear Lord, big-hearted people are not only around, but there are many of them. Bless them all for their free-handedness.

Photo by Shwa Hall