Natural Disasters

Our local newspaper last week reprinted a Groundhog Day cartoon by Mike Luckovich from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  It depicted two gentlemen in old-fashioned garb staring forlornly at Punxsutawney Phil who has keeled over (having fainted or died). One gent says to the other, "He saw his 401K." We might display a guarded smile after reading this sign of our economic times. But what can this hibernating marmot tell us about our future – seriously?

Would you build your own house in a flood zone on ground below sea level? Most would not do this and if they did, they would lack common sense. How about a city? Does it make sense to build and perpetuate a metropolitan area on land below sea level? The question might be—can it be done? Obviously, under optimum conditions it may be done and maintained if massive funding is available. Even then, there is no guarantee that natural forces will not overwhelm man-made systems.

The sound of the cicadas was deafening as I walked along on a summer Sabbath morning, enjoying the breeze and collecting my thoughts after a busy and eventful week. I had so much to think about, and was trying to making sense of it from a biblical point of view. Yet, those cicadas were humming away so loudly, it was hard to concentrate.

The recent tornadoes in Oklahoma and Kansas caused death and terrible damage and disrupted thousands of lives. Our hearts go out to the victims of the great devastation. Already we know of 500 million dollars in property damage around Oklahoma City according to the Southwest Insurance Information Institute. And the damage is far more widespread than that coving parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Tennessee. More than 12,000 cars have become twisted wrecks and several thousand homes have been damaged or destroyed. Some suggest that there will be more than one billion dollars in damages when the effects of these tornadoes—some in excess of 300 miles per hour—is fully known. But, do we understand WHY such tragedies happen? Can we learn something from the suffering and the pain they cause? Should we blame God or Satan or random chance?

The torrent of sickening images of death and destruction in Haiti just keep on coming. Search and rescue operations have become grisly recovery operations, as the dead are removed from the rubble of collapsed buildings.