Friday, March 28, 2014

The Day Darkness Came – Oso, 2014


The County I live in has been in a dark place for the last week; dark emotionally, physically, and spiritually. On March 22, 2014, the beautiful town of Oso, just 15 miles from my home, was pummeled by a catastrophic mudslide. As I write this, there are still about 90 people unaccounted for.

Blissfully unaware a few hours after the slide hit, my daughter and I were just 5 minutes away from this sweet town. We didn’t even know there was a mudslide until we were evacuated. We didn’t see the mudslide. We didn’t hear the mudslide. But the darkness of pain and death was there nonetheless.

For the last seven days, a whole country has joined us in solidarity - crying out to God asking Him “Why?” “Where were you?” “Where are you now, God?” It doesn’t seem to matter how long a person has been grounded in Faith, we still ask Why when our world caves in. As hours turned into days, the rescue parties turned into recovery teams. In their own way, each one asked Why as they dug in the debris hoping and praying for a miracle.

We aren’t alone in our lament and pain. Even our Biblical forefathers went through their own darkness crying out Why. Moses wanted to run from the darkness of his journey through the desert. David wanted to run from the darkness of his son dying upon birth. Job wanted to run from his darkness when he literally lost everything.

As each Patriarch mapped their journey, they learned the same thing –that God is in the darkness just as He is in the light.

David actually had a name for his darkness: The Valley of the Shadow of Death. He wrote; Yea, thought I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For you are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 1

Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was, 2 for inspiration and guidance.

All of them wanted to run from their valley, but couldn’t. They had to walk through it. And that is where they found Him - waiting to comfort, love, inspire, and rebuild.

Please continue to pray for our precious town of Oso.

1 Psalm 23:4
2 Exodus 20:21

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