In junior high or high school I read Cry, the Beloved Country. I haven't thought about that book for thirty years, yet today when I opened up the Book of Lamentations, I had this overwhelming feeling that Lamentations was to the Israelites, what Cry, the Beloved Country was to South Africa. Maybe because we recently watched the new movie Invictus... maybe because we have a stop-over in South Africa when we travel to Zambia later this summer... whatever the reason, looking back at some Cliff Notes on the book just seems to validate the connection. I don't recall much of the story, but I definitely recall the sadness I felt after first reading the book... that same sadness came upon me today as a read the opening lines to Lamentations... that sadness was capped off with the lines "The roads to Jerusalem are in mourning, for crowds no longer come to celebrate the festivals." When even the roads cry out in loneliness and despair, how can man go on?
Only God can bring one through a storm such as that."And were your back as broad as heaven, and your purse full of gold, and did your compassion reach from here to hell itself, there is nothing you can do." — Alan Paton (Cry, the Beloved Country)
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