I grew up in Calgary, so yesterday I wrote to several friends who still live there. They're all fine, although there are concerns about the city's infrastructure. No city was built to withstand this sort of natural assault. This will be a nightmare for a long time to come, even for those who did not have to evacuate their homes.
Approximately one-tenth of the people in the area have been displaced by the flood. But those are just stats. Think about it. There were people who were getting married today. There are women who had to get to a hospital to give birth yesterday. There are sick people who had to leave their homes abruptly, possibly to lie on a floor in a community center. There are people who just closed on a home sale last week -- some of these houses are now destroyed. They're saying on the news that insurance doesn't cover a flood of this magnitude.
It gets worse. The sister of one of my friends lives in High River, a town now under water. There was virtually no warning. They didn't have time enough to get the cats out of the house, which appears to be about to collapse. Even if it doesn't, it will likely have to be torn down.
Insurance doesn't cover a flood of this magnitude.
So what will happen to all the people whose homes are destroyed by this flood? Not many people who find themselves without insurance can afford to rebuild or move.
Earlier this week, I made a misjudgment that will cost me roughly $400-500. I can recover this amount in several months at most, if I find some extra work. The Lord may already have a plan in place for this.
Think of the contrast. People's homes are collapsing. All their worldly belongings have been destroyed in the blink of an eye. Helpless animals are stranded without food, trapped in houses that are about to fall into a river.
I'm not saying that smaller troubles are insignificant. Four or five hundred dollars is a lot of money to me. And relatively mundane troubles can hurt a lot. A child's best friend may be moving away. Someone may be too ill to attend a close family member's wedding or funeral. Relationships hit a rough patch. All these things are important to God.
Yet there's something about a natural disaster that makes us feel tiny. We are tiny. God is bigger than any event, any problem, any disaster. So why this?
It's not time yet for God to end the madness. What we're witnessing is a previously scheduled madness; the world will not be set right for a while. Which is not to say God doesn't intervene in people's lives. His primary way of intervening is to change hearts. But for now, for the most part, the exterior world just continues on its course. One day the Lord will step in and end the madness for good.
In the meantime, let us remember that we are tiny. Let us remember that whether our needs are great or small, He knows what we need. Above all, we need Him. In the middle of every minor wound or every catastrophe, He is what we need. He doesn't promise that we won't make miscalculations that cost us money. He doesn't even promise that we won't have to watch our home float away in a flood.
Psalm 34:7 says that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them. He rescues us from the inside out, through His presence. He rescues us within, and the rescue is permanent. From a spiritual perspective, what goes on around us is of lesser significance. Yet He still cares about everything that hurts us. Even the tiny things.