| Sunny Side Up Jan. 5, 2005 �2005, Kathleen Gibson Is God to blame for the Asian tragedy? 2005 entered our planet riding on sorrow's shoulders. As I write, five days after the earthquake induced tsunami in Asia, the number of casualties still climbs - 114,000 at present. Our TV screens reveal scenes of unthinkable devastation. Reporters, some stopping mid-sentence to gag, grope for phrases like these: "a disaster of Biblical proportions"; "paradise is forever lost; "scenes from Hell"; "act of God shatters Asia"; "apocalyptic scenes abound". The waters have receded now, but the largest wave of all - the massive wave of grief - won't diminish for some time. The only blessing - if one could call it that - is that this colossal sorrow has no political or human cause. No terrorist precipitated this; no bumbler, no slacker asleep at the switch. For once, no dictator to hunt down and capture; none to put on trial. No one is to blame. Except God. Millions ask at times like this - you might have asked it too - where was God? If he holds the whole world in his hand, why didn't he stop this? Some will use this as proof for their opinions: God is nonexistent�impotent�vindictive. Doubtless, some may announce their belief that the Asian tragedy was God's judgment on unrighteousness. But many faithful followers of Christ were also swept to their deaths, and those who believe that God always protects, heals, upholds, and prospers the righteous will stumble as they seek to explain that. "The older I get, the fewer things I believe," one of my spiritual mentors said recently. Then he added. "But the more strongly I believe those few things." Me too. So what do I believe strongly at times like this? That God still holds the world in his hand. That he could have stopped this, but permitted it because he sees a bigger picture than I do - spread across the pages of eternity. That he provided thousands of 'individual miracles' that we may never know of. That he calls me to reach out my hand and offer whatever I can to those left behind. Among the photos I brought back from my trip to India last year are several of me and friends standing, laughing, in knee high waves. I felt the pull of the sea as I stood there, but behind us it stretched calm and lovely under a cloudless sky. Months later the tsunami roared onto that very beach in the Bay of Bengal, and many others like it across Asia. I think of the begging children who gratefully accepted my fruit; the fishermen untangling their nets, preparing for another day on the water; the old woman who clung to our Jeep as we pulled away. Gone perhaps. All gone. "Life is hard," sings my daughter frequently, "but God is good." In the wake of the Boxing Day tragedy, however, many will put God on trial. I prefer to remember that in Jesus Christ I catch a glimpse of a heartbroken, compassionate God, his arms outstretched. Weeping on those very beaches. You can respond to this column at [email protected] Return Home |
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