Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The days are fleeting, and we are but dust
A disaster of horrific proportions has struck the tiny, impoverished island nation of Haiti - an earthquake with at least a 7.0-magnitude. Here in the US we have our stories surrounding an unusually long cold spell. We worry about the orange and strawberry crops in Florida. It is nice to have concerns as simple as these. But how do you cope with unimaginable and devastating news? How do you even begin to cope if you are in the middle of death and chaos? It seems that each natural disaster that strikes our earthly orb simply wishes to one-up the last one. And of all places to strike - Haiti. It seems ridiculously pointless to ask "Why?" I don't think that there is a "why". It just is.
I've been watching the news, trying to wrap my mind around this tragedy. It strikes me how my mind has a way of reverting to old memories in my brain and ripping them out to freshly lay them down before me, all of them grievous memories. I lived in Venezuela at a time when we experienced a 6.9 earthquake of our own. I was not at the epicenter of the quake when it struck, but I did see a collapsed commercial building and a three-story school, crushed down to one level, held up only by apparently sturdy desks. I witnessed rescue workers digging through rubble looking for bodies and hopefully, survivors. In our home a crack snaked it's way down one of our walls. Our belongings were thrown off the shelves by the shock waves. Still, our house stood strong. We were very fortunate.
Trying further to understand, I am briefly reminded of another tragedy I’ve lived through. Virginia Tech is all that needs to be said. So I take these two memories, with all the horror and sadness they opened my eyes to, and yet as I try to hold them up to what is happening in Haiti, they fall drastically short. They seem to disappear. My ability to measure the depth of this tragedy feels horribly inadequate. Listening to the stories that are even now just coming in, I have to fight to keep back the tears.
As I said to my friend, it is in times like these that I especially look forward to the restoration and peace that will one day come to this earth. When we are overwhelmed, it is a gracious blessing to rest on the solid rock who is Christ. I hope and pray that the Haitian people will lean on our heavenly Father. In a report from the Samaritan’s Purse about the situation the first night, I read this: “Thousands of people gathered in public squares late into the night, singing hymns and weeping.”
Oh for the day that all the saints will gather together, singing hymns but yet weeping for joy.
I've been watching the news, trying to wrap my mind around this tragedy. It strikes me how my mind has a way of reverting to old memories in my brain and ripping them out to freshly lay them down before me, all of them grievous memories. I lived in Venezuela at a time when we experienced a 6.9 earthquake of our own. I was not at the epicenter of the quake when it struck, but I did see a collapsed commercial building and a three-story school, crushed down to one level, held up only by apparently sturdy desks. I witnessed rescue workers digging through rubble looking for bodies and hopefully, survivors. In our home a crack snaked it's way down one of our walls. Our belongings were thrown off the shelves by the shock waves. Still, our house stood strong. We were very fortunate.
Trying further to understand, I am briefly reminded of another tragedy I’ve lived through. Virginia Tech is all that needs to be said. So I take these two memories, with all the horror and sadness they opened my eyes to, and yet as I try to hold them up to what is happening in Haiti, they fall drastically short. They seem to disappear. My ability to measure the depth of this tragedy feels horribly inadequate. Listening to the stories that are even now just coming in, I have to fight to keep back the tears.
As I said to my friend, it is in times like these that I especially look forward to the restoration and peace that will one day come to this earth. When we are overwhelmed, it is a gracious blessing to rest on the solid rock who is Christ. I hope and pray that the Haitian people will lean on our heavenly Father. In a report from the Samaritan’s Purse about the situation the first night, I read this: “Thousands of people gathered in public squares late into the night, singing hymns and weeping.”
Oh for the day that all the saints will gather together, singing hymns but yet weeping for joy.
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