Biblical writers took note of earthquakes, and referred to them often to make their point.
An earthquake is a penetrating image for cataclysmic times when “everything nailed down is coming loose.” Earthquakes threaten our assumptions about the stability of life.
We like to think of earth as rock solid, but sometimes the earth moves. Sometimes when people fear flying on a plane, they resort to the ancient Latin by saying, “Just get me back to terra firma.” We expect the ground to be firm. We want our buildings tied to the bedrock because our foundations need to tie to something that won’t move.
We are easily lured into thinking the same about our lives. We expect stability. We expect our lives to be “rock solid,” but then something traumatic happens and “everything nailed down is coming loose.” This happened for hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti on Saturday.
Early Saturday morning a traumatic and devastating 7.2 earthquake hit the peninsula west of Port au Prince. Many people have died, many are severely injured and people are still trapped in the debris. Hurricane Matthew hit this same area in Haiti on October 4, 2016 with continual 145 mph winds and flooding that destroyed farm lands, carried off animals to the sea and leveled countless shacks and buildings. Over 1.4 million people lost most or all of the little they possessed. This area still has not recovered.
Before the earthquake hit on Saturday I had just finished two weeks of very productive in-person and Zoom meetings with Northwestern Mutual for bringing many laptops to Haiti for STEM education and with Food for the Poor with the building of a new school. These projects will go forward, but the immediate needs of the survivors and those who have lost loved ones must be taken care of first. If YOU would like to offer assistance, I know of no one better than Food for the Poor to contact to offer help.
Please keep the wonderful people of Haiti in your prayers in this time of their great sorrow and need.
GOD GAVE US SUNSETS TO PROVE THAT NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, EVERY DAY CAN END BEAUTIFULLY!
