Devastation Everywhere

Time-line: Monday, August 28, 2017, 6:00 PM EDT.  As we sit and watch the destruction that Hurricane Harvey brought to the Texas coast, tears well up as thousands of people are in dire straits.  Yet, many more thousands are standing waist deep in water helping many who could be stranded to safety.  Many more are using boats to rescue humanity off roofs, from flooded residences and pulling humanity from unimaginable areas to safety.  National Guard troops, first responders, people from far away areas spending hour after hour searching and rescuing strangers that are like them; human beings with the one common persona-God’s Children.

The news doesn’t stop with the current tragedy we all have become part of; whether in Texas combatting the elements, or in Pittsburgh, suffering spiritually with brothers and sisters who are just that, our brothers and sisters.  North Korea sets off another missile threatening the sanctity of not just Japan, South Korea, but ultimately the United States.  

Our own family gets the news that a grandson was cutting the neighbors lawn as his mother arrives home, not seeing her son with the lawn-mower and finding him face-down in his bedroom.  It took three tries for the police to revive him with Narcan.  The paramedics ordered her to the living room saying he would come around or be dead.  Add to that another daughter suffering with severe Crones disease and similar maladies many families must adhere to with common challenges.  We all may face similar crosses and look to family, strangers, and God for guidance and strength.  

There is only one avenue of hope for the many problems each of us must face, for many almost daily, God.  Tragedy is not foreign to the human race, nor is it insurmountable.  One lesson all of us must realize is God never turns away from the misfortunes of His creatures.  He is with us in each waking moment and wants our attention, as He steps into the depth of our suffering.  Jesus lived a life of rejection and ridicule for us and told us, if we wished to follow Him, we would need to carry our cross, daily.  This does not ease the problems we seem to have, or does it?  

Two things are important here; trust in the Lord through all these travesties and never cease praying.  With the many blocks our own family has seen and lives with, prayer has become the number one strength for us.  Watching the disaster in Texas reminds us that we can at least suffer in a spiritual manner with them and share our prayers.  And Korea, we must call on God to guide our nation and do the right thing, whatever that may end up being.  Fear is useless, what is needed is Trust.