I always knew God had a sense of humor.
How else can one explain the events of the last 24 hours in South-East Asia?
When the final death toll is registered tens of thousands of families will begin a process of inconsolable, never-ending mourning. God saw fit to strike death and injury, grief and sorrow in the midst of half a dozen nations seemingly at random.
An earthquake coupled with a tidal wave. A few seconds.
People diving off the coast of Thailand. Fisherman trying to earn a crust in Sri Lanka and India. Christians clearing up their yuletide homes. Muslims in prayer. Citizens enjoying a Sunday morning.
All dead, injured or missing.
Is this justice?
Why, God, why? If You really do exist, is this some type of behavior pattern that I simply cannot grasp? The People of the Book say we were craven in Your image. Is that why we have to murder, to rape, to thieve?
Please, show us a sign that You are not the vengeful God one of my schoolteachers had me believe.
I want to think that You are – that You exist. I want to think that You do intercede in the affairs of the earth on behalf of humankind. But the last 24 hours make me wonder.
It is not like some biblical story where Your prophet gives the sinners 24 hours’ notice.
The fishermen did not see some sign. In fact, the wave attacked them from below. There was no way they could know they had done wrong.
And what of the tiny children washed away? Were they guilty of sin too?
And even if one of them was the next Adolf Hitler, Your bible speaks of free will. How can a sapling be uprooted before it has grown its first branches, leaves and sturdy trunk?
Please, send us a sign.