The Tsunami diaster

The countdown towards the New Year has commenced, and yet I feel the enthusiasm gradually diminishing within me. 2005 has arrived and yet in the mist of happy wishes, there seems to be only pretence for me. Alas, the new year has been ushered in by a diaster – a peril that have got at least 118k people dead and as I write, the death toll continues to climb mercilessly, much to the agony and sorrow of family and friends.

Nature has once again unleashed her wrath against the people. Man, with his technologies, self-pride, self-glory, is put into place when the sea came crashing down. Reality checks in when tsunamis rose and fell, smashing everything he has taken pride in, sweeping away lives without a tear. How pathetic the lives of man are, how fragile they are?

I visioned myself witnessing the scene – the scene of desperate people clinging onto driftwood crying hopefully for help, the scene of mothers catching hold of their children, in terror, anguish and distress, *perhaps making decisions no parents would ever want to. How could I, a human being, a Christian, feel apathetic when reading the news a few days ago? How could I feel nothing when thousands of people were mobilized to search for a lost young girl? How could I be emotionless when news of the death of the girl reached my ears? How can I be proud of a school culture of indifference – ‘dun give a damn’. A simple portrayal of self-centredness and selfishness, I realise. It is time I change.

My heart is saddened by the demise of thousands of innocent lives – toddlers, children, adults, and elderly, even the animals. And of these, those who have not acknowledge the truth of the gospel can only be condemned to hell, to eternal death and isolation from God.

#“Often time, we need to be reeled back into reality by diaster and personal suffering. Who gives a thought about the reality of God, life and death during boom times? Who really gives a thought about God and reality when we are sunning ourselves on beaches, shopping ourselves till we drop dead and eating ourselves silly?”

Perhaps it’s in the midst of such sufferings and pain, can we learn to be like Job, who when being inflicted with diseases, family taken away from him, stumble not in his faith in God, but hold tightly to Him in prayer, in total humility.

It is a relief to know that there are people out there who are concerned. And it’s because of such sympathy and compassion can the poor live better lives, the elderly receive Christmas gifts of life necessities from the Salvation Army. Among these people are non-Christians, how can I, one who claim to be a follower of Christ, be not ashamed of myself?

“My hope is to be with my Lord
To know as I am known
To serve Him gladly all my days
In praise before His throne”

*During the diaster, an Australian woman was clinging onto 2 children, yet she knows that she cannot save both, but must release one to save the other. Out of desperation, she let go of the elder one, with the mindset that the elder one has more chance of survival when released. She was in agony after she and the younger one got to safety. How could she value one over the other?

#quote Christopher Chia