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| photo by Dave Morris via Creative Commons |
I woke this morning to a new story of horror and pain. As I fed my son in our bed, I cried and cried out -- why? How are we to live in a world where such things happen so often?
And of course there is no answer.
There is no answering for devastating explosions, accidental or cruelly planned. For lives ended or irrevocably altered in the space of a single breath.
But when I heard of the fertilizer plant explosion in western Texas, when I imagined what those afflicted and their families and the rescue workers are going through, I got a picture in my head.
And when I say that, please know that I am not saying that God put a picture in my head, that he gave me any sort of vision. I don't know where it came from -- probably the depths of my own brain. But this picture, it is true of his heart, I think, and that is very real.
Here is what I saw, and what I felt: God there, in Waco, striding amidst the aftermath, gathering the hurting to himself, large in the chaos. The integral words are striding and large, for he is an active God and so very, very big -- and caring.
God cares, my friends. Even when it feels impossible that a kind and loving God could ever exist in the face of so much evil and destruction and pain. He cares.
He hurts with you, people of Waco.
He hurts with you, people of Boston.
He is with you, and he is for you.
This is what I know about God. Take heart, my friends, for he has overcome this world of pain and grief and terrible beauty that somehow exists only in the midst of the unimaginable.
Praying for God's presence to loom large in the hearts of the hurting today and tomorrow and always . . .
And of course there is no answer.
There is no answering for devastating explosions, accidental or cruelly planned. For lives ended or irrevocably altered in the space of a single breath.
But when I heard of the fertilizer plant explosion in western Texas, when I imagined what those afflicted and their families and the rescue workers are going through, I got a picture in my head.
And when I say that, please know that I am not saying that God put a picture in my head, that he gave me any sort of vision. I don't know where it came from -- probably the depths of my own brain. But this picture, it is true of his heart, I think, and that is very real.
Here is what I saw, and what I felt: God there, in Waco, striding amidst the aftermath, gathering the hurting to himself, large in the chaos. The integral words are striding and large, for he is an active God and so very, very big -- and caring.
God cares, my friends. Even when it feels impossible that a kind and loving God could ever exist in the face of so much evil and destruction and pain. He cares.
He hurts with you, people of Waco.
He hurts with you, people of Boston.
He is with you, and he is for you.
This is what I know about God. Take heart, my friends, for he has overcome this world of pain and grief and terrible beauty that somehow exists only in the midst of the unimaginable.
Praying for God's presence to loom large in the hearts of the hurting today and tomorrow and always . . .
"Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.”
~ Deuteronomy 31:6, NLT
You have an amazing way with words Beth... beautifully said. ♥
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