Well, it happened again. Another terrible earthquake has hit our planet and thousands of people are displaced, dying, or already dead.
I was reading reports that the initial 8.5 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan last weekend shook the ground for five whole minutes. FIVE MINUTES!?
Living in Southern California I have had the not so pleasant experience of earthquakes. But one thing is for sure. The ones I have experienced never lasted more than a few seconds. I could only imagine the terror of five minutes.
I am reminded once again of Psalm 46 that I spoke about in a previous blog. In Psalm 46 it says that earthquakes will shake our lands to the point of regions being separated, but nothing is more powerful than God's power. And when faced with disasters we are to remain calm and know that God is God and he still is the Almighty King.
We adults think we have it all figured out when it comes to emergencies. I mean, we got our supply of back-up water, we have cans and cans of spam just waiting to be opened, we know that we should recite Psalm 46 in times of ciaos, we always are aware of our emergency exits.
But, what I was reminded of yesterday at work, is that children, teenagers even, don't have it all figured out yet. They see the pictures on the news, and they hear the emergency sirens on the radio, and they are scared. Yesterday during worship I held a boy as tightly as I could, rubbing his back, reassuring him that he was going to be okay, because he was terrified of an earthquake happening right then and there.
I don't have any children of my own, but for my sake, please talk to your children, no matter their ages, about emergencies. There are emergency drills at schools that take place, but those drills always end with children returning to their classrooms. What if there were no classrooms to return to? What should kids do then? Remain at school until a parent comes to pick them up? What if your kids aren't even at school? I encourage you to help answer your childrens' what ifs.
My heart goes out to the people of Japan and the aid workers that are rushing over there to help with the recovery. May God bless your broken lands and repair your broken hearts.
