East Texas
Just over a week ago, a giant wall of water crashed into the too fragile coasts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and eight other nations. The tsunami tides ripped 150,000 people out to sea, leaving survivors and all the rest of us to cry out, "Why, God?"
One image above all others is seared into my mind: a young Malay-looking father tenderly holding the body of his dead son. The little boy looked so much like my grandson Daniel that it took my breath away. I know the question that pounded in his heart. People of every religion had the same cry, "Why, God?"
Some years ago I attended the memorial service for the singer, Keith Green, who had died in a fiery plane crash in East Texas along with ten others. The elderly Christian statesman, Leonard Ravenhill had been asked to give the main message. He stood there and told how many had been phoning him after the crash, asking why God had allowed Keith and the other young people to die. Ravenhill said, "I don't know. And any minister who is honest will say the same thing. I don't know."
"I don't know lots of things. I don't know why my friend Connie has bone cancer and is fighting a painful battle for her life. I don't know why my friend Becky lost her teenaged son in a car crash last fall. I don't know the answers to these questions, but I do know one thing. I know who God is. I know what He is like. And I trust Him even when I don't understand and even when I don't get answers."
I don't know lots of things. I don't know why my friend Connie has bone cancer and is fighting a painful battle for her life. I don't know why my friend Becky lost her teenaged son in a car crash last fall. I don't know the answers to these questions, but I do know one thing. I know who God is. I know what He is like. And I trust Him even when I don't understand and even when I don't get answers.
Jesus Himself didn't offer easy answers to these kind of questions. He referred to one disaster in Luke 13:4, the collapse of the tower in Siloam which killed 18 people. He asked the rhetorical question, "Were these people more guilty than those who survived?" No, they weren't, Jesus implied. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Another time, Jesus stood at the grave of His friend Lazarus and cried. Have you ever wondered, why did Jesus cry? If you've read the rest of the story you know He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. So why did He cry?
I believe Jesus cried because His friend's death reminded Him of all the pain and death in the world. Pain and death which God never planned, but which entered into earth when man chose to sin. All of creation is groaning, it says in Romans 8:22. Nature itself is in pain. It is not as beautiful and well ordered as when Jesus created it. Man's disobedience marred the physical creation. So bad things happen. Cells turn cancerous, turning healthy bones into painful, crumbling things. Young men drive in cars and lose control on curving roads. Earthquakes break the earth open and giant waves wash people away. And Jesus cries.
The most painful period in my life was watching my parents' slow decline into ill health and impaired mental capacities. It hurt so much. One day I was over at their home, trying to help out despite Mom's emotional turmoil, which caused her to lash out in her pain. It became too much. I rushed home and collapsed into my husband's arms weeping. He just held me.
Then with Jimmy's arms around me I began to say something sort of unusual. I began to repeat the Apostles' Creed - part of the liturgy at our Methodist Church. Between my sobs I declared, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord, who was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, on the third day He rose from the dead...."
As I continued those ancient words of belief it was like driving a stake in the ground and holding onto it. I didn't know why my parents and my whole family were going through this pain. But I knew who God was and I knew He was good.
When waves of pain and doubt crash over us, threatening to sweep us away, we can hold onto one thing that will never move. Jesus Christ and His love for us. Who knows what pain lies ahead, what natural or man-made (the cruelest of all) disasters? I don't know. But I do know the One I can hold to, Who will also be holding onto me.
Janice Rogers and her husband Jim have served with Youth With A Mission since 1964.
This article was first published by ASSIST news service - www.assistnews.net.
Dear Friends,
For the past week and more I have been seeking the answers to an often repeated question, "Did YWAM have team in the area hit by the earthquake or the tsunami?" Of course the answer is yes, but how many teams were there? Did they all survive? What are they doing now? Can we help?
For some days I have been collecting information and now pass it on to you so you will be informed and so you can PASS THIS ON TO OTHERS, as you see fit.
We had many teams in the area, from the most hard-hit part of Sumatra and nearby islands right through to Sri Lanka and the eastern coast of India. In the midst of all the terrible loss of life, we can give thanks that, to my knowledge at this time, all YWAM staff survived. Some teams were very near the epicentre and some were due to have been on the beaches that day, but for different reasons stayed on higher ground. We are very grateful.
Now they are engaged in relief efforts and they desperately need our prayer. One team leader recently telephoned to say that they were spending much of their waking hours simply finding bodies and placing a body bag by each one so the military could deal with them appropriately. At times they have felt it is just too hard to continue, yet they have. Our more permanent teams have lost friends, neighbours and fellow believers by the scores. Our short-term teams are deeply shaken having been so traumatized in a foreign setting. Normally they would need lots of time to debrief, receive counsel and come to grips with the tragedy that engulfed them, but they have no time for that. They hardly have time to eat. Please pray for them!!
As you know the great threat now is disease. Our people are at great risk. Do ask God's protection for them and that they will get, and be able to follow, the best advice for avoiding the deadly diseases that so often follow this kind of disaster.
So many people have asked what they can do to help. I will give that information below, but first I want to list just some of the work that our teams are doing in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Andaman and Nicobar Islands:
- in several locations, like northern Sumatra and Thailand and along the Indian coast our teams are coordinating the entire relief operations for large areas.,p> - at hospitals setting up a variety of stations for people looking for loved ones
- assisting people making long distance telephone calls to loved ones (a local company is doing this for free)
- translating with Thai hospital with the multiple languages of people affected. 28 Embassies have come to Phuket to set up embassy inquiry stations.
- listening to stories of people caught in the Tsunami and trying to find word of those who may have survived. Answering questions from inquiries. Finding multiple language doctors to assist patients.
- Coordinating teams to go to local Thai temples where several thousand bodies are being kept for identification. Many if not most are unrecognizable due to salt water, decomposition and injury but loved ones still are coming and wanting to look and see. The Thai Forensic department is here taking DNA samples of all of the dead so that they can be traced more than just through visual identification. Today many are arriving from Scandinavia searching for loved ones and trauma teams and counselling teams are also hopefully arriving to be available for families in need.
- distributing food packs and water to fishing villages in India and Sri Lanka.
- appealing for funds to replace fishing nets so families can start earning a living again as soon as possible.
- arranging and repairing the intact furniture and appliances, disposing the debris of the destroyed buildings, and beginning to rebuild.
- coordinating all medical efforts in Sumatran villages In many previous disaster situations, YWAM has provided staff for the work done under the banner of other agencies. We are always happy to do that and this is no exception. If this, the greatest natural disaster of modern times, follows the pattern of previous disasters, there will be an outpouring of offers for help and money but then the world's attention will shift to other subjects. But the needs will be very long term. Our teams will still be there in a year's time and longer helping to rebuild and offering help in the name of Jesus. It is worth noting that some of the hardest hit areas are those that actively persecuted those who seek to follow Jesus. Let's pray that this will result in much greater openness and receptivity.
YWAM is not a humanitarian organization. We are a missions movement, seeking to follow Jesus of Nazareth with all our strength. He taught us to love our neighbors and even our enemies and to express that love by helping those in need. Jesus' example is at the heart of the vast majority of humanitarian efforts today because most of the organizations in that field have Christian roots. But there is also a tremendous pressure on those organizations to drop the "religious dimension" of their work so they can be the recipients of governmental and other "secular" funds. Over a generation or two, their roots in Christ are obscured.
We will not cease to minister in the name of Jesus. Our assistance is available without regard to race or religion and we are not aggressive or insensitive in our relationships with those in need, but we do give credit where credit is due: Jesus is our example, the Holy Spirit our helper and we live for the glory of God.
Please do pass this report and appeal on to all whom you know.
Yours for the Kingdom of God,
C. Lynn Green,
International Chairman
Tsunami damage & relief Updates
India
Andaman Islands
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Indonesia
YWAM International
Tsunami damage in India - Photos
Royapuram slum
Royapuram slum II
Royapuram boats
Government officials tour the Royapuram area
Cleanup efforts in the Royapuram area
**NEW** Royapuram - 2 weeks later (part 1)
**NEW** Royapuram - 2 weeks later (part 2)
Foreshore Estates (North) - Fishing Boats & Aid
Foreshore Estates (South) - Tsunami Damage
Elliots beach slum (north) - Tsunami damage
Besant Nagar slum (part I) - beach debris
Besant Nagar slum (part II) - destroyed huts
Besant Nagar slum (part III) - destroyed huts, homeless
Kottivakkam fishermens village
Newspaper headlines in local Chennai papers
Colachel tsunami destruction - part I
Colachel tsunami destruction - part II
YWAM - Tsunami Disaster Relief Projects in India
YWAM comforting hurting people in Colachel
YWAM over a relief camp in Colachel
YWAM Distribution of surgical masks at Colachel
YWAM giving out filtered water at Colachel
YWAM bread distribution at Kottivakkam fishermens village
Artlab, Intermission & YWAM - Kottivakkam Beach cleanup (part 1)
Artlab, Intermission & YWAM - Kottivakkam Beach cleanup (part 2)
YWAM collection of donated items to help affected villages
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