Le Vingt-Huit, Le Routard, et La Lune de Sang, or "The 28, the Backpacker, and the Blood Moon"

The European Union is anything but united in how to respond to the huge influx of refugees. Four of the 28 member countries (vingt huit is French for 28) refused to join an accord to find a place within their borders for 120,000 refugees. This only begins to scratch the surface of the total number estimated at more than 450,000 arriving by sea into southern Europe since January. See this data visualized at UNHCR.org. Not all countries are not preferred destinations--Germany at the top, and France, well, not so much. 

The church it seems is providing relief--water bottles and food packets at border crossings. According to Dave and Betsy Scott, Nazarene missionaries in Croatia, on their Facebook page "Scotts on a Mission":

"The camps at the border with Slovenia are torn down and cleaned up. The focus is shifting to supporting the semi-permanent 'tent cities' near the border with Serbia." Partnerships are fluid with the Red Cross coordinating efforts. Scott continues, "Things are changing, we are just trying to keep up, as is everyone else." It just about summarizes the entire situation.

What is needed is a policy and action on resettlement for asylum seekers and repatriation for those just trying to sneak into Europe. This is where things are getting difficult. The church can take leadership on this issue if so moved in this direction. See Immigration Alliance, for starters. A stranger at our door is knocking.

"Things are changing, 
we are just trying to 
keep up, 
as is everyone else."

In France, frustrated with their country's leadership, Le Routard ["the backpacker" in French], a leading publisher of travel guides, has published one for Syrian refugees. 

It's kind of funny, and all sorts of sad.

But, if you're one of those Christians--no, the other kind--good thing you only have the blood moon to be worried about. 

Fun fact: If you were an astronaut on the moon during a total lunar eclipse, you'd be standing in the darkened shadow of the Earth. You would see a fiery ring around the globe of all of the Earth's sunrises and sunsets happening at the same time. Cool. Source: Space.com.