Sunday, March 3, 2013

Weathering Life and Death



While typing this blog, my view across the road is blocked by a horizontal blizzard. In Alberta, we live in a precarious part of the world that, except for modern technology, would be almost uninhabitable. Harsh and dangerous weather conditions can erupt at any time.

Ann and I just spent a month in New Zealand, enjoying the balmy weather of that moderate climate; a safe place to live, we might believe. But positioned on the fault lines of the pacific rim, we felt two separate tremors that had indoor plants swaying like trees in a wind, and were warned of a possible tsunami.

I wonder sometimes if any safe place exists in this world, not affected by the faulty planet we live on. The frequent storms, drought, earthquakes, landslides, floods, fire and other natural calamities are a reminder of the fragility of life anywhere on earth.

That doesn’t take into account the violence that afflicts humankind: war, and murder, fostered by anger, jealousy and greed; or the plagues of sickness and accident that terminate life every day. Death stalks humans in every place and at all times on earth.

Tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us. The mystery of history is that so few prepare for death, when its certainty provokes the greatest pervading fear of life. Only foolishness can ignore the peace God has made with us to meet Him, to whom we are all accountable, with joy.