LIFE GOES ON…

Hard to think of anything else right now but to feel for the people along our nations coasts. My neighbor was out on his porch earlier this week talking about how he couldn't stop watching CNN coverage of Gustav. He knows friends and relatives in or near some of the affected areas. It's hard to pull yourself away because it is so hard to imagine this happening to anybody, much less someone you know. It's moments like this when we feel so frail and helpless as human beings. We are victims of forces way beyond our control.

In legal terms disasters like this fall under the category: “Acts of God.” Doesn't bode too well for God's reputation, does it? Is it that God doesn't have anything better to do than devastate the lives of thousands of people? To some it may seem like that. We call natural disasters “Acts of God” because there is no other way to explain them. I would prefer to believe God is in charge of even things like this, and accept the inconsistencies that come with that belief, rather than live in a world even God can't control, or worse, where there is no reason for our existence and no one there to hear our silent screams.

One thing we need to remember is that this is the same God who let the world and His human creation go bad, then turned around and sacrificed His own Son in a brutal death in order to save it. God is neither distant nor untouched by our human predicament.

Believe me, He's got His arms around these flood zones right now eager to help and comfort. And just as God suffered over Jesus, His heart is breaking over these losses. Whatever you feel, you can be sure God feels also, and then some. The acts of God include the tears of God. And just as He will ultimately redeem the human race, He will also turn our lives and devastations into good somehow. Life will go on and God will still be God.