Devastation

I've been reading about New Orleans today. It's hard to take from so far away--there's a sense of helplessness that is exacerbated by the fact that the federal government has been so slow to move, our illustrious president included. This is one of the worst natural disasters in American history, and it takes 4 days to get National Guard troops there?

It's sad, too, to realize that much of this is as bad as it is because the city was built and maintained in a sort of defiance of natural forces. The levees were built to prevent flooding by the Mississippi, but the lack of flooding destroyed the deltas and barriers in the ocean that could have protected New Orleans from some of its damage.

What is hard to see, too, is that the most vulnerable people are the ones to die first. I saw a picture of a woman crying next to her dead husband. He died Tuesday because he had lung cancer and ran out of oxygen. An eighty-nine year old woman sat outside the convention center in the sun, wilting from heat and exhaustion. These are the people who couldn't get out of the city to start with, and because of that their escape will be the longest and hardest.

Where is God in all this?

This is where I see God now:
In the prayers of the whole country and the world.
In the hundreds of thousands of offers of help and acts of kindness.
On the coast and in the cities, suffering with the dead, the dying, the poor, the sick, the grieving, the homeless, the hungry and the thirsty.

Matthew 25 tells about the end of time, when Jesus speaks to his followers:

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory... Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'