As a powerful hurricane bears down on the panhandle of Florida, again threatening lives and livelihoods both there and later here in mid Georgia; I am struck once again with the fragility of life. In my travels I have lived through many devastating natural disasters. At least two California earthquakes, hurricanes both here and in Florida. I was born in tornado country and while living in southern Indiana had two tornados rip through the trailer court where I lived. White out snow and ice storms so heavy it brought down trees. The scorching heat of the southwest deserts and the brutal cold of Upper Michigan winters. But nothing compares to living in Washington state before and after the eruption of Mount St Helens.
When I made my way from Denver to Olympia, Washington, I understood there was a volcanic mountain which had a chance to erupt, but I had paid little attention to it. Once arriving, all of that changed. It was on the front page of every newspaper, it was the headlining story on every newscast and for sure, it was the topic in every bar and restaurant I frequented. There were daily reports of the dome that was building once the initial magma reaches the surface. Stories of evacuations and the crazily heroic stories of Harry Truman, the caretaker of the Spirit Lake Lodge, who even being in the certain path of an eruption refused to evacuate. All of it was very surreal to me.
No more than a week after I arrived on May 18, 1980 the volcano erupted with the force of 26 megaton bombs, sending cataclysmic results eastward. Killing 56 people, including Harry Truman. Causing floods and destruction. Also sending a plume of ash 6500 feet in the air, with up to five inches of the stuff burying Yakima, Washington. The television coverage was unreal and like the rest of the world I watched fascinated. But the crazy thing was it really had no effect on my life except in minor ways, that was until around a week later when another eruption sent up a plume of ash again, but this time the prevailing winds brought it westward. Soon ash was falling like snow in the Olympia area. It also covered the jobsite where I was working, causing a tower crane to collapse under the extreme weight of it. It was a blessing and a curse. A blessing because no one was hurt, but a curse because we were all out of work for ten days and I was broke.
My memories of those days are filled with confusion and awe but mostly of fear. With ash falling from the sky there was almost an apocalyptic feeling that pervaded everything. Automobile traffic stopped. Airplanes did not fly. People walked around with masks, protecting themselves from the ash which was full of glassine particles that could damage the lungs. If you did walk outside the ash stirred around your feet, reminding me of pictures from the lunar landing. It felt like the end of the world and for some it was.
We now live in a world where natural disasters are on the rise and the environment is out of control. If you believe in global warming or not it is evident that our world cannot survive for much longer. To some the solution is trying to reach into the universe for another planet to live on. More and more private companies are entering into space exploration. For some it is cryogenics, the idea of freezing their bodies until a ‘new age’ dawns with solutions to all of our problems. For me none of these things are in my future, because I know until Jesus comes again, this world is not my home.
The prophetic book Revelation promise us this about our dying planet and our future: Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth, “for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelations 21: 1-4) For me all the signs are in place, Jesus is coming soon and I have no need to fear, but I also have to time to waste.
We have been given a job as Christians, “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28: 18-20) So if we see the signs around us both natural and the total planet turmoil we are in, it is not my or your job to track every earthquake or note every disaster, but to be about our Father’s business, with hope and faith in Jesus Christ. No fear, spreading the Good News, that’s what I want to do!
I did lived through the eruption of Mount St. Helens, first hand. Experiencing the power and also the devastation of that natural event. It did make me think of the end of the world, but at that time I had no hope for a better world and a God and Savior who wanted me to be there with them. Today I trust in that and seek to share the hope it gives me. I am praying today, you will see the signs around you and not be a fatalist or put your hope in things of this world. Hope in him who has already conquered this world. He is the way, the truth and the life. No cryogenic icebox for me when I die, I have a mansion waiting in the New Jerusalem. There is room there for all.
Blessings, John
10/10/18
