Headlines

Gas was $3.69 this morning. Ten cents more a gallon than two days ago.

Myanmar's death toll was just over 300 the first time news broke about their storms and tornadoes, today it's estimated at almost 130,000 with millions displaced.

The Chaiten volcano in Chile, dormant for over 9,000 years erupted twice last week. 4,500 were evacuated while the town, crops and farms were destroyed.

China's earthquakes of last week have left an estimated 40,000 dead, missing or buried. 391 dams surrounding the epicenter were badly damaged and could lead to more devastation.

We try not to watch the news in front of the children because it's not censored, is often sensationalized and it's stories are brief leaving more questions than answers for my kids.

Having said that, I can't ignore what is happening, and my son is sensitive to it as he hears about it on the radio or at school. This morning in the car we were talking about all the devastation that has hit so quickly, and where is God in all of this. It is a valid question from my 9 year old - it is a VERY valid question for anyone of any age.

I told him about free will, and that a lot of things that happen to people may be because of choices they have made, or others have made. Can freak storms be blamed on free will? I don't know. I think there is something to this Global Warming thing, and the current strain on the Earth's resources. However, I explained to my son that sometimes God may allow things to happen because in the end, they will turn out for His glory. Allowing those things to happen may be the only way to save us. For example, right now there are people who are watching the news coverage and praying for the first time. We are sad about those who have lost their lives and their families, but if they have found salvation (including small children), they are with God. Those who are mourning will be reached by others in ways they could have never imagined. Others will fall on their knees and meet Christ for the first time. The world will have a chance to make change. The world will have a chance to come together. I'm not saying it's easy, I'm not saying we shouldn't go through all the processes of grief. I'm not saying that we will understand His purpose now, or even in this lifetime.

I watched Evan Almighty last night for the first time. Morgan Freeman, who plays God had some great lines.:

"Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"

It's just like in the book of Job. God didn't make those things happen to Job, satan did. But God allowed them. In turn, Job's faith was tested and grew stronger. In the end, Job was given back all that He lost, and then some.

There is a BEAUTIFUL song by Natalie Grant called, Held. In it are some very wonderful lyrics:

This hand is bitterness
We want to taste it and
Let the hatred numb our sorrows
The wise hand opens slowly
To lilies of the valley and tomorrow

This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held

If hope is born of suffering
If this is only the beginning
Can we not wait, for one hour
Watching for our savior

This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held

Please don't hear me saying that we should just 'suck it up and take what is dished out to us.' I will be the first to say that my faith would be tested should the devastation that is happening worldwide would come to my front door. I just find solace knowing that He is a gracious and merciful God, that he hurts when we hurt, but he has the best intentions in mind.

I also read somewhere that shepherd's sometimes break the legs of those sheep that are so stubborn that they won't stop wandering, and their actions and determination could cause them pain, suffering or death. The Shepherd then carries that sheep while it's wounds heal, and watches over it as it learns to walk again. If God is our Shepherd and we are His sheep, I assume it would be safe to say, that there are times when allowing something to happen, or 'breaking our legs' to help us, and then carrying us, watching over us, guiding us to walk with Him, may be necessary. It may just be what saves us.

Verses to ponder:

Matthew 5:4 (The Message): 4"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

II Corinthians 1:3-5 (The Message): All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.

Isaiah 49:13b (NLT): For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.