The devastation spawned by the 74 tornadoes in 10 states over several days last week is nearly impossible to fathom.
It just doesn’t compute.
We read of the numbers killed (39) and wince and wonder why. We cringe at the images of destruction and want to cry, especially when we realize that behind every number lost is a name and an entire world forever changed for those left behind.
I’m especially thinking of the Babcock family. Parents Joseph and Moriah, along with their three children, Jaydon (2), Angel (15 months) and Kendall (2 months), were all killed when a storm leveled their house last week in New Perkin, Indiana.
All the earthly hopes and dreams of a young family quite literally blown away in a near instant.
How do loved ones carry on following a tragedy of this magnitude?
It was Horatio Spafford, a former Chicago lawyer, who after losing his four daughters in a tragic accident at sea, penned the words to the beloved hymn, “It Is Well.” Through tears, he took comfort in his Christian faith, reflecting that “The sky, not the grave, is our goal.”
Mr. Spafford was right, of course. It’s this belief in God’s sovereignty that inspired the Psalmist to write:
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride” (Psalm 46).
Let us remember those who have been lost and pray for those who remain – and yes, as the headline writer at the USA Today put it, “Amid tragedy, Thank God.”
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