More than 1800 homes destroyed. And what you see in this photo is but a drop in the ocean. It is a small percentage of the physical destruction of the mammoth fire, which has beaten all previous records for loss of both property and lives in Victoria. The latest death toll stands at 208.
But those are mere statistics. Go here to read more on this. One can only stand so much reading and viewing of this. Then it all become too much. Even more so when one of our work mates was one who lost the battle with the fire.
Now for the clean up and re-build. And the questions. Why? Our Vicar at St Luke's has written this about the fires. It will only be there for a short time and so I urge all who drop in to this blog also to read that.
I like what Vicar Phil has written. There are no reasons as to why God allowed this to happen any more than there are reasons for the untold suffering and misery that befell Job. Job required and answer from God. He didn't get it. Neither will we. Tim Costello recently admitted that after the Tsunami that hit Thailand a few years ago, his faith was also rattled. But he also suggested that was a "western" attitude. For the people there, it strengthened their faith. They looked on it that now they needed something/some one to cling to. Some one who would give reality to their existence.
This from Vicar Phil
"To me these events are a telling reminder of our human frailty and how vital it is we get ourselves right with God while we have the chance (see Luke 13 on this). It is not about God’s judgement, nor about the individuals who have lost their lives (a number of whom at least were people of committed faith), it is about us all getting shaken out of complacency to face the harsh realities of existence." Those words from the Vicar are tough.
What about me personally? Do I have the answers or some marvellous insight? No. I don't. I asked those questions way back when Mr Bush of USA fame, took the world into a war it didn't need. I read the book of Job at about that time. And Like Job, when I asked God I didn't get an answer. Job was shown God's Glory in creation and that he, Job, was a man of pride. I was shown my own sinful nature and the harsh reality that it is God who should require an answer from us, not the other way around. Where is the justice when something you create lives in a world you have created, of which you give the creature the right to use, but that all that creature does is to abuse what you have created? That don't make no sense at all.
I could go on but it will serve no good purpose.
Our faith has been rattled may we all turn to the Author and Finisher of our faith and cling to Him. After all, He is the reason for our existence. Amen.
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