Earthquakes

There were some new tourists on a beach in San Diego last weekend. Apparently, after an earthquake caused quite a rumble, some giant squid became disoriented and washed up on shore. The forty-pound, four-foot-long sea creatures have eight arms and two long tentacles. Each arm has hundreds of suction cups, each one surrounded by tiny, sharp teeth. It has two enormous eyes and a sharp beak, into which it thrusts its prey. Once inside its beak, the prey is ripped apart by a tongue which is covered with teeth.

Not my idea of a friendly pet.

Yet, in spite of their ferocity, you’ve gotta have some compassion on the poor guys. After all, there they were, swimming along, minding their own business, headed for the underwater McDonald’s for their dinner, when all of a sudden, KABAM! An earthquake strikes, swirls them around, and spins them out of control. Before they knew what hit them, they were floundering around on the shore with some strange two-legged creatures poking and prodding them.

Well-meaning passers-by tried to drag the creatures back out to sea, but the squid were too heavy and sprawled out to drag very far. They just kept washing back up on shore. To my knowledge, most of them died.

May we share a moment of silence, please? . . .

Okay. Now that that’s done, we should really talk about this earthquake problem. I mean, I used to think that if those crazy Californians chose to live on the edge of the earth, that was their business. But last spring, Dallas residents experienced a 3.3-level earthquake. Yes, you read correctly. That’s Dallas, Texas.

Apparently, there’s a minor fault that runs through the area. And yes, if there is a fault, there will be earthquakes.

Now, that’s just plain wrong. If I wanted to live on the edge, I’d go live in Hollywood. But when I have chosen to play it safe and live in cowboy country, I shouldn’t have to worry about the earth opening up and swallowing me.

I mean, really.

I guess it just goes to show that none of us is truly safe. We can do all the right things, mind our own business, go to work and pay our taxes and do everything right. Just like those squid. And still, we can’t protect ourselves from disaster. Sometimes, earthquakes come. Tornadoes blow through. Cancer strikes, or someone hurts us when we didn’t deserve to be hurt. There are some things that are simply out of our control.

Then, before we know it, we wake up, dazed and confused. And like those squid, we have One who will show us compassion and mercy. The difference is, while the would-be squid-savers were mere humans, our rescuer is the Almighty God. Oh, He might not shelter us from every disaster. But He promises to stay with us through every storm. He promises to give us the strength to endure even life’s most difficult hardships. And He promises that, no matter what, His love for us will never, ever fail.

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken,” Isaiah 54:10