Words of Living Water: 273 After the Storm

(Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “After the Storm”, originally shared on August 23, 2023. It was the 273^rd video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

We had our first tropical storm warning ever in Southern California the other day, and right in the middle of it an earthquake! Some say that those who experienced relatively less trauma through all of this were blessed. If so, were those who lost their homes in rivers of boulders and waist-high mud cursed? How does that work? Today, we’re going to find out.

We had several days of warning leading up to the arrival of Tropical Storm Hilary this past Sunday.

The storm hit with its greatest force east of us in the Coachella Valley, in places like Cathedral City, Seven Oaks, and in Palm Springs. And in the high desert in the Antelope Valley, in places like Lancaster, where there were so many roads closed that they ran out of “Road Closed” signs!

I drove across LA, to Westchester near LAX, and back to preach and lead worship at Westchester Lutheran Church. The way back was mostly a normal drive in a winter’s rainstorm. The way there varied from barely raining, to accidents every half-mile, near hydroplaning, and almost no ability to see the traffic in front of me or the lane markers on the sides of my car.

And then there was the earthquake. It was centered in Ojai, northwest of LA but felt near us and well into Orange County. It measured 5.1 on the Richter Scale, enough to cause damage, but no fatalities. A hurricane and an earthquake. A Hurriquake!

One newscaster asked if we should expect a plague of locusts next. Her partner warned her not even to say that. 😊

A field reporter told of having pulled their truck up to a mudslide to prepare a report. They heard a funny sound outside and when they went to investigate, they found that another mudslide had thundered across the road behind them. They were cut off!

We got 3-4 inches of rain in about 24 hours, about the same as in a major winter storm. Some places in the high desert got 8”. Places in the Mojave Desert got more rain in a day than they normally get in a whole year. LA got more rain on that one day than they ever had, since they started keeping records in 1877.

We saw flooded freeways, places where roads had become rivers and in Cathedral City mud flowed five feet deep through a residential neighborhood leaving people unable to leave their homes. Thousands of people lost power. People in a convalescent care facility had to be removed with a skip loader. Residents in Seven Oaks had to be rescued and removed by helicopter.

On the plus side, 1.9 billion gallons of water was trapped to seep into our aquifers.

People back east, as well as Californians themselves, are amused by the fact that we tend to freak out over .5” of rain (though this storm dropped many times that in most areas) but we take earthquakes in stride.

There was barely any mention of Sunday’s earthquake two days later, but the news was still dominated by the effects of the rain. For a while, even the disastrous fires on Maui were off the screen.

The last time we had a storm like this was in 1939, and 100 people died.

This time, we had time to prepare and with the geographical adaptations that have been made since then, like concrete channeled rivers, we had one death, though there are still people missing.

So, there was a great deal of difference between how much trauma people suffered or didn’t suffer in this storm depending on where you lived, as well as in storms like it depending on when you lived.

I saw a meme online that showed a patio table and four chairs, one of which was tipped over. The text said “Tropical Storm Hillary 2023! We will rebuild!

OK, that might describe a few people’s experience, but what about those whose homes were washed away, whose cars are soaked through, whose businesses were crushed, or even those few whose loved ones are still missing?

And how do we make sense of the difference? How do we explain what happened to who and why?

Some say that if they experienced little to no trauma it was because they were “blessed”.

But think about that. Would any of them say that those who have lost so much were cursed?

Is that the way things work?

Jesus had something to say about that, in Luke 13:1-5,

1 At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

If God is good, why is there evil in the world, and why is there good? Why do some people suffer while others seem to go through life unscared?

I don’t pretend to have all the answers. This is such a big question it has its own name: theodicy.

But, here are seven things to consider.

First, the world is not the way it’s supposed to be. God made the world as a perfect place for all of Creation, in perfect harmony with God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. He made human beings for a perfect relationship with God. But, in order for that relationship to mean something, God had to give humans a way to say no. And they did. And evil entered the world. God entered human history in Jesus Christ to die on the cross to redeem the world from the consequences of its rebellion. But evil still enters the world as it always has, by human rebellion against God. The world is not the way it’s supposed to be.

Second, God is good, God is sovereign over the world, and God loves us and desires nothing but good for us. But we can’t always see the right connection between what happens and what is the work of God in our lives.

For example, we can’t even always know whether what happens to us is for good or for evil.

I heard a story once about a Chinese rancher who was visited by his neighbor, who hadn’t been by for a while.

“How are things going?” the neighbor said.

“I don’t know,” replied the rancher.