TORNADO OF LOVE

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life… (John 9:1-3 NIV)
…Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. (John 9:6-7NIV)

“How can a good God who loves us allow tragedies like the Tuscaloosa tornado happen?” It’s one of the most challenging questions posed when we talk about a loving, personal God who cares for his creatures enough to send his Son to pay for our sins. The technical term for the answers that theologians offer to such questions is theodicy, from theo – meaning God and the Greek dike – meaning justice.

Theodicy is an important part of the work of the apologist. But the truth is that John 9:1-7 is about as close as Jesus ever came to answering it. “…this happened that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” And from that day to this, whenever natural disaster, sickness, war or any other kind of tragedy comes into human life the followers of Jesus have stepped in to relieve suffering.

That’s what happened last week as a tornado struck FCC member’s Eric and Desiree Shaffer’s farm. The photos here don’t do justice to the damage nor to the recovery effort. But here are just a few brief facts: Sharon Stratton, Desiree’s Mom, was spared when two massive trees fell on her house; Eric, Desiree’ and the children were spared the destruction of their home and only escaped injury by mere seconds as all the windows on the back of the house were blown out and every tree in the immediate vicinity came crashing down. Eric’s father and step-mom Ed and Rose Shaffer were uninjured as the roof was lifted off their new home. That was the first tornado.

The second tornado was the tornado of love that poured out of the hearts of FCC’rs and others who spent the next four days supplying food, water, shelter, cars, trucks, tractors, chain saws and lots of heavy duty work to help them crawl out from under the wreckage and begin to rebuild. The work was so complete and so rapid that even though the Shaffers were grateful when the Red Cross showed up the legendary service organization didn’t have much to do. As Eric said, “I’ve learned a lot of things this week. But the greatest thing is that my worst nightmare has turned into the greatest blessing of my life.”