Katrina

You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
--Psalm 10:17-18

Our college paper today was filled with stories of horror, death tolls, starving children, suffering and violence as a result of the hurricane. In the midst of such madness, what shattered my heart was the mention of a little boy, waiting to be evacuated, who cried frantically and threw up as his pet dog was taken from him and left behind. I fell on my face and wept to God of all comfort, the Alpha and the Omega, the answer of answers. What can I do? What can I say? Pray. Plead. Pray. Oh, Lord, I can't imagine, can't understand -- the hell of those conditions, with no end in sight. I see my bed, my shower, my breakfast, my safety with new eyes this morning. I realize with a rude start that God whom I trust with my inmost being is the very same God whose hands "framed the fearful symmetry" of Hurricane Katrina. How much must He be suffering right now! How grieved He must be to hear every stricken cry of His beloved children! How impossibly close He must be to every broken spirit, every ruined life! Praise God. I don't understand. I can't, and won't until the day he comes to ransom us once and for all. But praise God all the same.

I hope the Prince of Peace is coming soon.