| Tuesday, January 04, 2005 |
| Tsunami |
It's all over the news nowadays. Footage of children wailing, adults grieving, coffin upon coffin, bloated, grey, stiff corpses. You must have seen it. Last night, I heard this item on BBC about the tsunami and God. The BBC guy was interviewing this bishop and some other guy called PC Railey if I'm not wrong. I was in bed and missed the intro to it. But at one point Mr Railey said something about "the idea of God being benign" and how the tsunami contradicts this idea.
Exactly, because God is NOT benign! Wherever did that idea come from? The God who parted the Red Sea that swallowed up all of Pharaoh's armies? The God that sent plague upon plague on Egypt? The God that flooded the entire earth in Noah's time? The God who made this earth, with all its raging waters and volcanoes and all that? Benign? The God who made lions and tigers and sharks and piranhas and whales? Are you kidding me. He is not. He is wild and dangerous. He is the Lion of Judah. But His fury is as great and all-consuming as His love. This is the God who allowed His own flesh and blood to be murdered for us.
People are asking now, how can there be a God if such things can happen? How can God be a loving God if He allows such things to happen? Even people who believe are asking why. I have wondered so myself. The footage on the news breaks my heart and makes my tears well. But I know God. So intimately and personally, and I know His heart breaks for His children as well. Why He allowed or caused this to happen, I do not know. What I know is that He has always been good, even in the worst situations in my life, and no matter how I think and search myself, I come back to the conclusion that He is very real and alive, and He is good.
On the 26th of December, there was a mini tsunami within myself too. I did something quite stupid to hurt myself simply because I was so frustrated. And I'm sorry I did that because I know I hurt God too when I did that. But all's over and forgiven, the waves have retreated and the debris cleared. He called out through the rain and calmed the storm. It isn't raining anymore.
I read the Time cover story on the tsunami just now. "[They] were the only ones of a household of 14 to survive, climbing onto a roof terrace and forced to listen as their relatives screamed for help and drowned inside their house."
I couldn't help but wonder why they didn't try to save them. Given the circumstances, it probably would have been impossible and they'd have drowned too, I guess. I was thinking that if one day such disaster should befall Singapore and my parents' lives were in danger, I'd save them, even if it means I die. Afterall, my life on this earth means nothing. If I die, I go to heaven and see Him. That's where I really belong. But if my parents are still not Christians and they die, they go to hell. I'd rather they live and have a chance of getting to heaven. If they are already Christian, then I'd still do it rather than regret.
It's probably easy to say, but I'm making this decision now. Recently a cousin of my friend died. I was with her when she got the news. Didn't know what to do or say. Afte that I teared too, because I knew her cousin wasn't going to heaven. Then I was thinking what if my parents died and they don't get to go to heaven too? I've been thinking about this a lot. I pray, and am going to pray each day for God to preserve them until their hearts are ready to accept Him. One of my greatest fears is this. So I'm making the choice to do some things for them that I don't like. I know that ultimately, only God can meet their needs, but right now, they only know me, and they know that I am a Christian, and even though I cannot meet all their needs, I represent Him in my house and I'm probably the only way they're going to know about His goodness.
Thank God my parents are still alive. They go overseas a lot, and I so often take for granted that they'll return safe and sound and neglect to cover them with prayer. Yet time and time again they've returned safe and sound.
Today during the news I watched this item on the merging of MediaCorp and MediaWorks and the meeting they had to welcome the new employees. The CEO (I think) of MediaCorp was talking, and he said, "I think we should all thank the Almighty that we're still alive."
I was surprised that he used "Almighty" to refer to God. I mean, people normally just say "God" and God can mean pretty much anything. But the use of that word shows that he understands this aspect of God. Almighty. |
posted by esther @ 10:51 PM  |
|
|
|
