HOW TO KEEP ON KEEPING ON: One believer’s response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina
1. The French news agency, Reuters, has dubbed the decade 1994-2003, the Decade of Disasters.
• From 1994 to 2003, 5,677 reported disasters killed 673,070 people and affected 2.58 billion people, causing $691 billion in estimated damage.
• That compares with 1,021,605 reported killed and 1.63 billion reported affected by disasters from 1984 to 1993.
• In 2003, 76,806 were reported killed by disasters – three times higher than the 2002 figure. Disasters affected 255 million people during the year, inflicting estimated damage of at least $56 billion.
• Deadliest disasters (1994-2003): drought/famine (48 percent), floods (16 percent), earthquakes (16 percent), windstorms (10 percent), extreme temperatures (eight percent), other (two percent).
2. Next Sunday will be the 4th anniversary of the horror and devastation caused by the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC and we will remember again the thousands of lives lost, how radically our world changed, and how life for every human being on earth has never been and will never be the same since.
3. This past December 26, the 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, the world’s most powerful in over 40 years, causing the entire planet to vibrate at least a few centimeters, brought horrendous death and destruction to more than 150,000 in various Indian Ocean countries.
4. And with barely enough time to catch our breath, now we have to deal with another major catastrophe of Biblical proportions that has already wiped out the lives of hundreds and completely destroyed or disrupted the livelihood and belongings of millions all along the Gulf Coast
5. On a more personal note Linda Beth Neustifter, wife of one of our United Methodist pastors, Tim Neustifter, whom I know from my years of ministry in New Mexico, writes from Lafayette, LA, “Our church is housing displaced people, and the Cajundome (not quite as big as the Superdome) in Lafayette is now housing families with no place to go. These families have no food, water, money, or clothing. Most no longer have homes or jobs to go back to. Therefore, they have no paychecks coming in to provide for basic necessities.
Looking at the aerial pictures of New Orleans, I can identify areas where UM churches and parsonages are completely submerged. There are approx. 50 UM churches in the New Orleans area and many others in outlying areas with extensive damage. From a conference perspective, that means pastors who no longer have homes/church buildings (or paychecks.) There will probably be churches that can’t follow through on their apportionment commitments. Most church members will be without homes or jobs themselves.”
6. We’ve all heard the even more horrifying news of the additional chaos and mayhem being caused by looters, rapists, and murderers further aggravating the misery and suffering of those still waiting for rescue and medical attention.
7. Medical and other disaster control experts are already warning of additional hazards to be dealt with in the days and weeks ahead including outbreaks of cholera, hepatitis, a variety of gastro-intestinal diseases and major infections being caused from wading though water polluted with toxic contaminants including human feces, rotting human and animal carcasses, gasoline and chemicals from industrial sites.
8. So with all that bad news to contend with, how on earth do we – and especially the folks more immediately impacted by this disaster, muster up the courage to face another day?
9. Why not just respond to all the bad news as Job’s wife did by saying, “Just curse God, and die!” What’s the point in going on?
10. To further add insult to injury – as was clear from our Scripture reading – this might all be just the beginning of our troubles!
• Jesus foretold in Luke 21, “There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven…On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”
• So how do we and why should we keep on keeping on? Why shouldn’t we just do as the hedonists proclaim, “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.”
11. I’ll tell you why – and there’s really only one major reason for doing so – because the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we have placed our faith and trust – who experienced rejection, suffering, loneliness, brutal torture, dehydration, thirst, and death for us, rose triumphantly on the third day and has promised eternity with Him and the Father in a new world freed from all the trials and tribulations of this present life. And He has given us the Holy Spirit as our Divine Comforter and Encourager who enables us to be joyous over comers in spite of the present heartaches and tragedies we have to go through.
12. If none of that is true – if Christ did not conquer death as the Gospels so clearly proclaim, then we are truly sunk and just at the mercy of whatever human, natural and cosmic forces may come against us and it’s each man or woman for him or herself and the survival of the fittest.
13. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hoped in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”
14. Well I choose to believe Him and His Word – even and particularly when the going gets tough – and I encourage you to do the same. Yes, the present is tough. Yes, it is a struggle. Yes, it is painful. And yes, tomorrow may bring even more and greater hardships with which to cope.
15. But He has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us. He has promised to never allow more to come on us than we can handle by His grace. And His word promises that those who do not quit and keep on keeping on in spite of all they may have to endure -- will one day have God the Father wipe away every tear from their eyes, death and suffering and pain will be no more, and Jesus will invite them to share the throne of the universe with Him. And the glory of what is to be, will make the pain of this present time but a faint and fading memory.
16. And so in light of all that He has promised, and with that perspective filling our minds and hearts, we do not give up, we do not call it quits. But together as His Church we get alongside those who are hurting the most in whatever way we can:
• to lift weary hands,
• to strengthen drooping knees,
• to feed the hungry,
• to provide a drink of water to the thirsty,
• to clothe the naked,
• to provide shelter for the homeless
• healing for the wounded
• a caring presence for the dying
• and comfort and support for the bereaved
17. And we do this because the One we follow said clearly and unequivocally, that “in as much as we did these things for the very least, we did them for Him.”
18. You have received information in your bulletins of specific and immediate needs in the affected areas and the means to affirm your love for Jesus through our United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). God and the hurting await our response.
AMEN
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For those reading this online, you may contribute to Hurricane Katrina Relief by visiting our UMCOR donation site at http://www.methodistrelief.org/site/pp.asp?c=bhKNI4PHIpE&b=876335
or through a local United Methodist Church in your area.
