Those who have followed the story will have seen many photos and stories of Thai people offering prayers and offerings to various deities like the god of rain or the spirit of the cave. It is a given for these people that the spirit world intersects and impacts the material world we live in. No doubt there will be cynics out there who would ask about all the other children of the world who are currently suffering. Why don’t we all petition the gods so they can also be delivered?

As Christians, we may have even asked at one point, why does God help some people but not others? The Bible is clear that God has a plan for humanity and for some reason we are not always privy to what his intentions are. But then again, the Bible is clear that God is God and (while we would like to think we would do a better job), we are not.

But never mind God, there are still kids in captivity today and what are we doing about it? The Sydney Morning Herald last year published an article about 43 children detained on Nauru. According to the paediatric specialists who checked on them, wrote that, “…these were the most traumatised children we had ever consulted on, far worse than children we had seen in Australia, Africa, Asia or Europe.” Why are we so happy when kids in caves are set free and ignore the plight of kids in detention centres?

There are many things we can blame God for. But there are probably many more things we can pin on ourselves. We sin both by what we do, and what we do not do.

All brickbats, bouquets and banter welcome at pastor@pmbc.org.au