What to make of these terrible pictures of tornado destruction in Joplin and Minneapolis.  Spend some time reading through the comments ranging from the promise to pray for the cities and the mocking of those who pray and the God to whom they pray.  Unsurprising I suppose.  What do we, as followers of Christ, say about such unspeakable destruction of homes, indeed of lives snatched away into eternity suddenly, unexpectedly.

Judging from the comments what everyone seems to agree on is that there is something wrong here.  Things like this shouldn’t happen.   Nature should not do this.  The world is broken.  How heartily we agree with that response.  Something is wrong.  The world is broken.  Things like Joplin shouldn’t happen.  But they do.  There is something fundamentally shattered about this earth, something severed, torn, splintered.  We are helpless to fix it.

What can we do?  Pray, give, go.   We can all pray.  We should all pray.  Americans are hurting, we are Americans.  All of us can pray.  We can, as we are able, give to the relief of those who are suffering (Samaritan’s Purse comes to mind, among others).  We can, as opportunity arises, go and use our God-given skills to relieve suffering.

“That the creation itself may be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom 8.21)