We all have people in the public eye who annoy us.  Close to the top of my list are Heidi Montag, reality TV star, and Pat Robertson, who needs no introduction.  Yesterday both came out with shocking announcements. Montag had 10 plastic surgery procedures in one day at the age of 23. Robertson blamed the earthquake in Haiti on it's people making a deal with the devil. Both appauling stories that made me shake my head in shock, saddness, horror, and grief.

These two have a lot in common: They love the spotlight. People either love them or hate them. They have platforms which to speak to entire cultures of people. They both have been molded by cultural expectations that are unhealthy and lack accountability. Maybe most importantly, they both provide a distraction in a deeply troubling time.

In a certain way, they both seek acceptance and a need to give themselves security and answers in a national (or at times worldwide) arena. So they mold themselvse into characters. Their life choices are easy ones - seeking surgery to completely conform to a world's view of what she should look like - smaller chin and nose, ears pinned back, and bigger boobs. And another gives a reason for a terrible natural disaster to satiate what I hope is a small population's need for an answer to such an event -- they made a deal with the devil, plain and simple.

These are quick fixes and easy answers so the world can keep turning and we can all point fingers of blame somewhere. How have matters of acceptance and faith gotten so far out of hand? Why do we constantly need answers?

Rarely, if ever, did Jesus answer a question directly, so why are people believing Pat has the answers? Jesus did heal physical ailments on occasion, but not chins and boobs -- so why is Heidi consumed with altering her God-given face to become a generic version of herself?  She has claimed it is the "better" her, but she doesn't even look like herself now. Is that what we're called to do or be?

Of course there are explanations for all of these questions, but I sit her in mourning over two more souls who have compromised their own selves to make a point. I pray others learn from their examples and do not follow their lead.  I hope people are coming alongside Heidi in her addiction and Pat in his quick-fix answers that solve the riddle of, "Why did this happen?"

Haiti, which sits on top of two tectonic plates just like my home does in Southern California, was cruelly forced to realize this reality in the past two days that the plates move.  I am reminded that this could have been my home too, not because God chose it, but because that is how nature moves.  It is awful and there are no reasons as to "why now?" The people of Haiti will not be able to mourn and grieve properly if they are being forced to defend themselves against an evangelical pastor thousands of miles and realities away.  Hopefully they did not hear his report and his simple diagnosis of a much larger disaster. Additionally, people are already losing focus on one of our neighboring country's dilemma over an insecure 23 year old's choice to cut and shape her body into something else.  Haiti needs help now more than ever, and Heidi isn't helping with her sultry shot on the cover of People Magazine and people buying it.

Truly there is no answer to why any of this is happening, but I trust in a God who is big enough to handle our lack of answers. The people of Haiti might not be trusting God after the dust has settled and possible chaos errupts even more.  There is a incomprehensible death toll, homes lost, families split, and tempers flaring.  There is enough trouble without bringing Satan into it.  Out of the rubble, stories will rise of terror and heartache, but hopefully also of small glimpses of hope and redemption because God is in it, holding all people. This was not an act of judgment, and we need more people to reach out in love and not condemnation. 

We need that for Haiti and for Pat and Heidi.  We need to rebuke what needs to be rebuked, and help those who need help. More importantly, know the difference between the two and handle every situation in love.  I believe in a God who can hold it all, so even though I want my focus to be on Haiti, it was torn by these two individuals who happen to annoy me, and I hope I can sit in the reality that I share this planet with all of them, the people of Haiti, and the Heidis and the Pats too. People need to come alongside all of them right now and create space to not explain the whys.  Especially to the people of Haiti this week and the coming years.