Earthquake

On the front page of today's Hindu (India's national newspaper), bold letters exlaim that the "Pakistan death toll may exceed 30,000." Most of you have heard the devastating news that came out of Pakistan and Northern India on Saturday, and many of you have expressed concern for my safety and security amidst this tragedy.

Thank you for this; please take comfort in knowing that I (and the other volunteers in Kerala) were completely unaffected - at least physically. Aluva is only about 130 miles north of India's southern-most tip. Considering the vast size of the subcontinent, this means that I am incredibly far away from the scene of the destruction. Here, in the South, we did not feel the earth shudder.

We did, however, feel our hearts shudder as we received the news from the North of this country and neighboring Pakistan, where, as I mentioned above, they now believe that this earthquake is responsible for the deaths of over 30,000 people. But the news continues to get worse. As was the case with the tsunami last winter and the hurricanes in the States just last month, each day the reporters raise the number of those whose lives have been lost to Mother Nature's vengeance.

So many people are asking "why." Why the destruction? Why the lost lives? Why such pain? Over the past few days I've asked myself all of those questions; it is human nature to search for the "why," is it not? But despite this instinctive reaction to ask questions that can never be answered, I've made a conscious decision to waste no more time or energy with them. Rather, I am going to spend my time and my energy in prayer - prayers for those who have lost family members and friends, prayers for those who have lost possessions that they may never be able to reclaim, and prayers for those who have to pick up so many pieces of destructed lives. I ask you, friends, to do the same.