I will praise You in the storm...

I grew up in the area where the tornadoes struck on Friday. My mother had to wait for the one that later struck Henryville (an EF4) to pass by. I know Henryville well. There is a garden there with some of the biggest variety of plants I have ever seen. There is a little truck stop right off the interstate. It does not look like much, but it's a little hole-in-the-wall that all the construction workers go to for lunch (they know all the best secret places to eat). It was well worth going out of your way to drive there because they had the best pie.

Among the death and devastation, there are amazing stories. I have some friends that just a few days prior found out that their first child is a little girl. Now their home is destroyed, but they weren't home. They went to a friend's house because they had a basement.

The high school let the kids out early to attempt to race the storms home. That was a good call, as the high school was destroyed. One bus driver saw the tornado and turned back, offloading herself and the remaining eleven kids into the office, which was the safest place to be. Another three buses saw it coming and pulled into a hardware store. The store manager said they counted 81 people they housed through the storm. The store is the only building untouched in a large radius.

There was a man who threw himself over his wife. She survived because of his sacrifice. A mom threw herself over her two kids. They survived. She lost a leg but is stable. So many stories.

If you've never seen the damage of a tornado first-hand, it is really hard to imagine. The pictures seem fake if you've never seen it in person. I know it sounds cliche, but you just can't understand the power of a sudden gust of wind. It is unreal otherwise. I've seen it as tornadoes are all too common in that part of Indiana.

There is a worship song that says "I will praise you in the storm." There are miraculous stories of survival, people making it when there is no earthly reason they should have. But most of all, we can praise God for his church. One of the largest congregations in the world, Southeast Christian Church, is located close to Henryville. In fact, they have a church camp which was untouched. They are gathering the homeless and giving them a place to stay, a central point to get help: from clothes and a hot meal to minor medical attention for scraps and bruises, allowing the hospitals to deal with the overwhelming number of serious injuries. Other local congregations are teaming up together to help provide those hot meals and other things. The church (not a church, the church) is an amazing powerful thing. When earthquakes struck Haiti, it was the church leading efforts to help people while politicians had to deal with agreements and embargoes. The church was in New Orleans days before FIMA. The church was in Japan and Indonesia for the tsunami relief. And the church has ever been there for the earthquakes that hit our country regularly. Even the Salvation Army and Red Cross have roots as Christian organizations helping people. There is nothing greater than the church being what the church should be. So we praise God for this amazing gift of the church and for allowing us to be a part of it.

Pat Robertson, world's most vocal idiot

This week, there was a 7.3 earthquake in Haiti, virtually leveling the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Hospitals are gone. Within 24 hours of the quake, the Red Cross in Haiti was completely out of supplies. Haiti is the poorest country in this hemisphere. They have nothing to start with. Now, their buildings lay in ruins, and they have no ability to repair those hospitals and schools without help from the outside world.

God, help me to serve you in a way that will benefit the people of Haiti. I want to be your hands in that country. Help me not to just offer prayers, but be willing to obey.

In light of the great need (to help, I recommend working through World Vision or IDES; they are reputable and have experience in disaster relief), many are pulling together to help, as they should. Soon, people will make fake charities, preying on people's generosity. Over and over again throughout the Bible, God condemns those who do wrong to the poor (especially in the prophets, proclaiming destruction upon those who have done so. Read Amos). Amos 5:12 "For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts." (NIV) God PROMISES judgement on those who prey upson the poor. If that is you, you have been warned.

God, You will be faithful to your promises. Great and terrible will be your wrath on those who oppress the poor and refuse to repent. God, help me to turn from the ways in which I oppress the poor. Be gracious to me, teaching me and all who do this wrong to turn from our sin to your righteousness.

In addition to these warnings, let me know express my feelings about Pat Robertson. If you don't know, he said that the earthquake was a curse, because they supposedly made a pact with Satan to throw off the rule of Napoleon. So, to you, Pat, I say:
You wicked fool! How dare you, oh one of great senility, speak in such evil and ignorance! You blame the poor for being oppressed! You blame them for Satan's evil. Even if the pact was made, Ezekiel 18:20 says, "The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father , nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him." (NIV) God would not hold them cursed for the sins of their fathers! Woe to you, who sits in your chair as if it were a throne, wearing your fine suit like a kingly robe. You drive a car as the Caesars drove chariots! You live in a mansion, like a palace of old! Woe to you, for you proclaim judgement and oppress the poor by your words. Worse, you lead others to follow you! Great will be your judgement when you stand before God. Repent!

For anyone else who would read this, do not hold Christians accountable for Pat Robertson. He is the violation of what we believe. He is a Pharisee, a hypocrit. He claims to hold to our religion, but does not practice it in any way. He is a blight, a disease. He causes my stomach to turn.