Meeting the ladies of a book club for coffee, going to the grocery store to pick up food for dinner, renting a TV series, and taking a bike ride. Normal day. Then a phone ring and door knock awaken me to the knowledge of a tsunami warning for my area. The biggest earthquake in Japan since the 1900’s left a country in shock and a herculean, rolling, muddy, 30-foot wave came to destroy hundreds of miles of coastline almost mocking the earthquake survivors. Concerned spouses make sure I have somewhere to go when the wave that traveled as fast as the plane that brought us here slammed into our seawall. Mercifully, there was enough land between us and the mainland to deflate the deep-water wave to only a few feet.
Living in the States I never studied tsunamis…at least that I can remember…after all, they never hit in America so I wasn’t interested. Now I have been a witness to two in lands where I have lived. I often forget the power of natural events. I worry about guns, abortion, and other man-made traumas that I think I have control over and then something like this hits. I have seen the southern part of Thailand bleached from all of its 5 star hotels, hostels, and beachfront restaurants. I have seen silent, broken families living in one room makeshift temporary homes hastily put together by volunteers. We moved dirt, stacked stone, painted walls, and watched the people bath in big barrels with a bucket to rinse. We heard the stories interpreted to us of lost family members and entire villages missing. I saw the playing cards eerily lying on the ground where a house once stood. No man could control any of this. No man could ever have stopped the devastation no matter if the communication was available. No man could ever comfort the mourning survivors.
I see the same look in the pictures of the survivors in Japan. Shocked faces wrapped in blankets, mask clad soldiers bringing aide through unrecognizable rubble, empty store shelves and long lines for food and water. Their lives are forever changed. Shutting off a TV or walking away from a computer screen doesn’t make their horror and sadness go away. We pray. They stand silently with tear stained faces where their house once stood. We send money. They wonder if they will ever work again. We weep. They wail for their loved ones. Is it really hopeless for them?
Where man fails, the Lord prevails. We will never have enough food, water, money, or prayers for them…but the Lord is the CREATOR of all of them! He is the designer of each seed and each vessel to bring the food. He sees EVERY tear and hears ALL prayers. Did this earthquake and tsunami catch Him by surprise? Was He unaware of what His creation did? Was this disaster unplanned and without purpose?
May that never be uttered in the silence of our thoughts.
We live in a sin cursed world where peace will never be on earth. Fires, earthquakes, death, tsunamis, and sickness abound. The amazing thing is, we have HOPE in it. We see what our sin deserves in these tragedies. Ultimate destruction. Then we remember what Christ gave…His perfect self as a final sacrifice. His life being destroyed and then being raised has forgiven us. We have hope of a future of no earthquakes, sickness, depression, tears, and death. This is what propels us to go and help the Japanese with time, money, resources, prayers, and hands. Our Savior uses us to reach the hurting and lost and tell them of our hope. Villages turned to Christ in Southern Thailand when Christians came. What purpose could there be in this? You know what? We may never know exactly what God purposed for this…but we do know it has a purpose, to make Christ known. Pray for the workers, the fields are white for harvest. Pray with me that we will not forget to pray for the salvation of the survivors of this tragedy when we walk away from a report to meet for coffee, go to the gym, or pick up dinner. Pray with me that the Lord will be honored and many will come to Christ who otherwise would not be willing to hear the gospel. May we be ready to give a defense of our faith in these desperate times.