Death toll continues to rise. On Monday morning I was heading to a weekly meeting of Baptist preachers and pastors. I was listening to the news on the radio about the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. At that time the number of confirmed dead was less than 2,000. By Tuesday at noon it had risen to 5,000. That number has now passed 23,000. Turkey has infrastructure and human resources in place to coordinate efforts and distribute aid as it comes from around the world. There is a US embassy there. After years of war there is none of that in Syria. There is practically no national government to speak of. Pray for victims, survivors, military forces and humanitarian relief workers. As of Friday afternoon there were still children being rescued alive. If you wish to donate, volunteer or assist in other ways be careful of scams and scammers. Use organizations you are familiar with such as Samaritan’s Purse or the global Red Cross organization.