"If you're alive, you're winning...

"if you haven't lost a loved one, you're winning."

Those words are spoken in the interview with Puerto Rican blogger Edmaris Carazo embedded below.

Eleven weeks after Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria, about half the island still has no electricity and much of it still only has the power some of the time.

What I was struck by in listening to Carazo on The World today was how she has retained her good humor and how amazing the people of Puerto Rico are.

I have sent dollars for relief. And just yesterday, the 420-member denomination of which I am a part, sent a container loaded with items for Puerto Rican relief.

But there is so much more our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico need.

Not the least of their needs are our prayers.

But if you also feel moved to make a donation for Puerto Rican relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts, see here. Please prayerfully consider a gift to the linked agency or some other agency with which you're familiar.



By the way, as this additional report from today's edition of The World, Puerto Rico's continued desperate situation is having an impact on the rest of the United States. Puerto Rico is a major manufacturer of medicines and medical supplies. Most notable among these, maybe, are IV fluids used in hospitals.



[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]