{"id":2351,"date":"2023-02-07T08:57:27","date_gmt":"2023-02-07T13:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2351"},"modified":"2023-02-07T08:57:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T13:57:27","slug":"never-give-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/07\/never-give-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Never Give Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.
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The pre-dawn earthquake that struck along the border of Turkey and Syria yesterday was one of the most powerful shakings those countries have ever experienced.
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There are fewer than 20 quakes a year anywhere on the planet that exceed a magnitude of 7.0.\u00a0 This one measured 7.8, meaning it was sufficiently fierce to bring down thousands of structures that weren\u2019t designed to endure such violence.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
Geologists immediately identified the culprit as the Anatolian tectonic plate, which is slowly migrating westwards about an inch a year.\u00a0 Since the last major earthquake in the area happened in 1872, enormous stress had been accumulating.\u00a0 Worse yet, the sudden conversion of that stress into horizontal earth movement apparently destabilized an adjoining fault.\u00a0 Nine hours after the first earthquake, a second one measuring 7.5 took place about 60 miles north.\u00a0
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The results have been predictably heartbreaking.
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Rescue teams, volunteers, and family members \u2013 all hindered by strong aftershocks and freezing winter weather \u2013 are digging frantically into collapsed buildings.\u00a0 More than 3,500 people are known to have perished.\u00a0 Now the race is on: \u00a0Will the rescuers have sufficient time and resources to reach the many who still lie buried under the rubble?\u00a0
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The videos pouring in from the other side of the world bring to mind a violent earthquake that rocked another part of Turkey more than a quarter century ago.\u00a0
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Tragically, that disaster struck in the middle of the day.\u00a0 Scores of children disappeared when their school buildings collapsed.\u00a0 Parents and rescue workers dug for days.\u00a0 Gradually hope faded that any more survivors might be found.
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One dad refused to leave his son\u2019s school.\u00a0 He continued to burrow into the shapeless piles of bricks and blocks.
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Another day passed.\u00a0 And then another.\u00a0
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And then he heard the voices of children from a narrow space in the rubble.\u00a0
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His own son\u2019s voice rang out.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re here, Dad.\u00a0 I told the other kids not to worry.\u00a0 I told them you would never give up.\u201d<\/em>
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To know God is to be blessed with the assurance that we have a heavenly Father who will never give up.\u00a0 He will never leave us to face the world alone.\u00a0 The writer of Hebrews reminds us, \u201cGod has said, \u2018Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.\u2019\u00a0 So we say with confidence, \u2018The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid\u2026\u2019\u201d (Hebrews 13:5-6)
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Because we are made in the image of this God who never gives up, there\u2019s something deeply planted within each of us that prompts us to do the same.
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This week you may not be called to dig through rubble, or tie a tourniquet to save a life, or comfort someone in overwhelming pain.
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But you can still do something that really matters \u2013 especially for any children or grandchildren in your family, those who will always be looking to you for help, even if they rarely express that in words.
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Give them a gift:\u00a0 Let them know that you will always be there for them.
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And that you will never give up.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here.\u00a0The pre-dawn earthquake that struck along the border of Turkey and Syria yesterday was one of the most powerful shakings those countries have ever experienced.\u00a0There are fewer than 20 quakes a year anywhere on the planet that exceed a magnitude of 7.0.\u00a0 This one measured 7.8, meaning it was sufficiently fierce to… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[157,10],"class_list":["post-2351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-compassion","tag-perseverance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2353,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2351\/revisions\/2353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}