God's Miracles at Work

I received this photo today from a dear friend I work with, whose parents and aunt lost their homes to the tornadoes.  I believe she got the photo from the media because I believe I've seen this same photo in the newspaper.  And remember - this is only an extremely small portion of all the damage in this area, not to mention the remainder of Alabama.

If you look at the bottom center, my friend's parent's house is the second house from the bottom (above the house with the blue tarp on the roof).  Looks pretty good, but what you don't see is the destruction on the inside, underneath the roof, which is only being held up by a 2x4!!  It's basically only a shell standing and it was officially condemned this morning.  Now look on the bottom right and count up 3 houses; what looks like a white mound of rubble is my friend's aunt's house!!

Now - here's the miracle.  Everyone was at home when the tornadoes struck, and everyone got out alive, with only minor injuries!!

Here's another miracle.  Take a close look at the photo, including the white areas where houses once stood.  Not a single person was killed on these particular streets, yet people were in every one of the homes!  Many were trapped and dialed 911 to call for help, but none of them had serious injuries!  Now THAT is a miracle!!

Don't tell me God doesn't exist!  And yet I realize there are many who are asking questions like "Why could God ever allow this to happen in the first place?"  I don't have all the answers and I don't think it's something we can ever truly understand in this world.  But I heard something the other day on television that helped me put it into somewhat of a better perspective and I thought I'd share it with you.  I'll try my best to explain it and relate it as it was told.

Someone had made a comment to a minister, asking where God was in all this.  And the response was, as close as I can remember it, that God was in the very same place here as He was when His Son was being humiliated, tortured and murdered in a terrifyingly slow and horrific process more than 2,000 years ago.  He gave Man free will, to live in this world however we see fit.  But He will give us His promise of Eternal life if we so chose.

And here's where my own thoughts come in.  Yes, God gave us free will, and part of that free will set us up to live in this world, a world we know is full of contradictions:  ugliness and beauty, happiness and sadness, joy and sorrow, etc.  But if we honestly and truly believe that Jesus Christ is our personal savior, God will grant us Eternal Life in God's perfect kingdom.  As an aside, I've often wondered what would happen if this world were perfect. Think about it.  If it were, who would want to go to Heaven and be with our Creator?

I know this doesn't answer questions.  I admit to always having far more questions which, as I grow older, I realize may never be answered - at least in this life.  But perhaps it will help in some small way.  Regardless, I only share it with you out of love.

May God Bless, Jan