Perhaps it is just me “growing up” the last few years, perhaps it is just growth of awareness in the last few years or perhaps it is what is. I do not remember a time in my lifetime where quite as many tragedies have occurred. As Lisa and I were reading an AP article about the initial damage of Hurricane Katrina I tried my best to place myself in the shoes of those dear people.
Here we are, sitting in our bedroom reading articles and watching footage of this disaster with the fan on, comfortable and clean. Our 1-year-old is happily sleeping in her crib across the hall, the beagle is snoring by our bedside and we are preparing to pillow our heads. I am about to pull newly washed clothes out of the laundry. In contrast, those people who’s lives have been shattered by Katrina are stranded, hungry, unable to sleep, without their belongings and many of them are looking for loved ones and neighbors. I can’t even place myself in their shoes… I was in North Hills just a few miles from the epicenter of the Northridge quake in 1994. The townhome my family lived in was somewhat damaged, and we did not have power for a few hours, but we at least had water and some comforts. We still COULD sleep in our beds. Aside from the broken glass, and other things we did not face too much hardship. It is hard to grasp what the folks in the Gulf of Mexico are dealing with right now.
Perhaps I just was not as informed, or most likely I did not care to consider the catastrophic events of our day and age. Like the real events that happened in Rwanda in 1994 (featured in the film “Hotel Rwanda”). While I was very young at that time I probably did hear about it in the news, but if my memory does serve me correct, I did not pause to think about it.
Starting on September 11, 2001 with the attacks in New York and Pennsylvania.
Later that year another plane crash in New York…
Earlier this year, the tsunami that decimated Southeast Asia
This week’s stampede in Iraq and the Hurricane…
It goes to show that we can not expect or prevent anything. Our government, the governments of the nations around the globe can strive for the safety of their citizens from terrorism, invading nations, but they can never escape “natural” God-designed events. Perhaps even if we had known about the September 11 attacks we could have thwarted or maybe lessened the damage. Perhaps. But can anyone truly prevent every potentially damaging attack?
I dare say no.
Even in the wake of the Hurricane, we knew that people were asked to evacuate the city, but for many reasons not all made it out. Even if all did leave the threatened areas, would that have guaranteed that no lives would be lost?
I write these things not to minimize grief or to downplay the tragedy. These are real people, with real issues. They have real families, they have real needs and they have real souls! In fact I am going to commit to praying for believers in the area, commit some resources, and I encourage you if possible to do the same.
My point is, that God is a just God. He is also in control of all things. While we live in a “controlled” world we can never control the hand of God. I think of Job’s own response to tragedy.
I will be interesting to see how the media will point fingers at government officials who perhaps could have “prevented” this. It will happen, since we are a society of zero-responsibility. God’s sovereign hand will not be an acceptable cause of this catastrophe.
God is the Lord over all things, and we can somehow trust in His sovereignty while we cannot understand it. We can rest in the fact that He desires all men to be saved and that as a result of this people may come to a point in their journey where they recognize that NOTHING they can do can be able to save them from death. God will make hearts soft so people can realize this!
While these folks have real issues, real families, real heartache and real loss there is a very real Savior who has gone through the worse pain that any man has ever experienced that we would have real hope in a real Salvation.
Pray for messengers in the Gulf of Mexico and all around to use these times as an encouragement to take the gospel with boldness and clarity.
This is a fitting song to post lyrics for:
After the Last Tear Falls
by Andrew Osenga and Andrew Peterson
After the last tear falls
After the last secret’s told
After the last bullet tears through flesh and bone
After the last child starves
And the last girl walks the boulevard
After the last year that’s just too hard
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
After the last disgrace
After the last lie to save some face
After the last brutal jab from a poison tongue
After the last dirty politician
After the last meal down at the mission
After the last lonely night in prison
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
And in the end, the end is
Oceans and oceans
Of love and love again
We’ll see how the tears that have fallen
Were caught in the palms
Of the Giver of love and the Lover of all
And we’ll look back on these tears as old tales
‘Cause after the last plan fails
After the last siren wails
After the last young husband sails off to join the war
After the last “this marriage is over”
After the last young girl’s innocence is stolen
After the last years of silence that won’t let a heart open
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
And in the end, the end is
Oceans and oceans
Of love and love again
We’ll see how the tears that have fallen
Were caught in the palms
Of the Giver of love and the Lover of all
And we’ll look back on these tears as old tales
‘Cause after the last tear falls
There is love
This is on the boat tour of the San Francisco Bay
