World-changing events...and I'm back in Texas
Hey ya'll! I made it safely back to Texas; it was a long trip back (I think I was on the road about 8 hours), but it was worth it. I had a really great time with my family in Georiga! We got to go down to the lake in Florida a few times (wasn't good fishing weather, tho), and I got to drive down there, too. It was good to spend Christmas with them; I got a few fun books and CDs and so forth. My aunt from Atlanta came to visit for a couple of days which was great, as well as my aunt and uncle who visited for several hours on Christmas day. And my Uncle Tony taught me to play X-box!
Christmas night was the first time I heard about the earthquake that hit off of Aceh, Indonesia. It wasn't until the next morning that I realized it had caused huge tsunamis that hit and caused destruction in over half a dozen countries as well. Since I know my family's house in Malaysia is near the ocean, I immediately went to call my parents to see if they were ok. They were, praise the Lord. A few waves did take out the wooden, tin-roofed houses across the street from us, including an Indian family we'd become good friends with. Thankfully, the largest wave only came up to the gate of our house. I talked with Mom, Dad, and Lins, and it was incredible just to hear their stories and experiences of the waves hitting and then dealing with the devastating aftermath. They are still helping people clean up their houses and trying to rebuild, as well as providing spiritual, emotional, and psychological support to those affected by the waves. And really, Malaysia wasn't even hit as hard as a lot of countries. Lindsay told her experience of seeing the second wave coming in: she said it was scary to see this huge wave coming towards them, with people on the beach running towards our house and screaming, "I don't want to die, I don't want to die!" It was a pretty poignant image.
I think later that day it really began to hit me how much devastation had been done. All the images I saw on television were of places and people that I had grown up among--and it was so hard to see all that. It also hit me that if Malaysia had been hit worse, I could've lost my family that day. I called Lance that night and just had to talk and cry about everything, shaking as the full effects of the day caught up with me...and I hadn't even been in direct contact with the devastation! Lance listened and encouraged, and he prayed with me for my family and all the people who had been affected by this. Please do pray for these people; the death toll is over 80,000 at this point, and it will continue to rise. Countless hundreds of thousands more people have lost family, friends, homes, possessions...everything. One friend who is going out to Malaysia to help with the crisis there wrote this in her e-mail as she got ready to leave: "I am praying that the shaking that has literally reshaped the islands will represent what God is doing in the heavenlies to bring His Kingdom to the peoples of the islands. Many times in the past there have been movements of God in the midst of great crisis. May that be the case now." That's what I am praying. Let's face it: we have a God who is mightier and more powerful than the earthquake that was the equivalent of 1 million atomic bombs, a God who is more far-reaching and over-whelming than tsunamis 50 feet tall travelling at 500 miles an hour that could wipe out lives and buildings in an instant, thousands of miles away from where they originated. That's the God that we serve. And he has the power and ability to impact these peoples' lives in an even greater way than this destruction; let's be a part of his movement and pray for those people who so desperately need our God. He alone can make their worlds whole.
Right now I'm listening to WOW 2005, and there is a beautiful, moving song by Avalon on there called "You Were There." Christina was actually the first one to introduce me to this song. I wanted to post part of the lyrics--I think it applies to these times, because in the midst of everything, the Lord was still there, and he was still the amazing, powerful God he's always been:
Anyways, I wanted to say thanks to so many of you who have called to check on how my family is. Your concern means so much, and I'm thankful to have friends who care like that.
I've kept up with my family the last few days in Georiga, and now I'm back in Texas. Lance took me out last night to eat at a really nice restaurant, and it was really great to see him again and spend time together. We exchanged Christmas presents, and he gave me a beautiful pearl ring, necklace, and earrings--they are beautiful!! Then, on my impulse, we caught an 11:00 movie. Today I've just been doing a few things for my grandmom, catching up on some e-mail, and listening to my new CDs. Just wanted to catch you up and give a little more detail about how my family's doing. Thanks again for your concern and prayers; they will continued to be needed in the weeks and months ahead. I can't help but thank God for the gift of my family, life, love, safety, and security...because all of those things, as we've found, can be stripped away in an instant. But we know that nothing can separate us from God's love for us, and I pray that he will show that to the thousands of people who are living in a nightmare right now. May God bless each of you with family, life, love, safety, and security; they are precious gifts; HIS love is a precious gift. And I am so thankful for those gifts.
Christmas night was the first time I heard about the earthquake that hit off of Aceh, Indonesia. It wasn't until the next morning that I realized it had caused huge tsunamis that hit and caused destruction in over half a dozen countries as well. Since I know my family's house in Malaysia is near the ocean, I immediately went to call my parents to see if they were ok. They were, praise the Lord. A few waves did take out the wooden, tin-roofed houses across the street from us, including an Indian family we'd become good friends with. Thankfully, the largest wave only came up to the gate of our house. I talked with Mom, Dad, and Lins, and it was incredible just to hear their stories and experiences of the waves hitting and then dealing with the devastating aftermath. They are still helping people clean up their houses and trying to rebuild, as well as providing spiritual, emotional, and psychological support to those affected by the waves. And really, Malaysia wasn't even hit as hard as a lot of countries. Lindsay told her experience of seeing the second wave coming in: she said it was scary to see this huge wave coming towards them, with people on the beach running towards our house and screaming, "I don't want to die, I don't want to die!" It was a pretty poignant image.
I think later that day it really began to hit me how much devastation had been done. All the images I saw on television were of places and people that I had grown up among--and it was so hard to see all that. It also hit me that if Malaysia had been hit worse, I could've lost my family that day. I called Lance that night and just had to talk and cry about everything, shaking as the full effects of the day caught up with me...and I hadn't even been in direct contact with the devastation! Lance listened and encouraged, and he prayed with me for my family and all the people who had been affected by this. Please do pray for these people; the death toll is over 80,000 at this point, and it will continue to rise. Countless hundreds of thousands more people have lost family, friends, homes, possessions...everything. One friend who is going out to Malaysia to help with the crisis there wrote this in her e-mail as she got ready to leave: "I am praying that the shaking that has literally reshaped the islands will represent what God is doing in the heavenlies to bring His Kingdom to the peoples of the islands. Many times in the past there have been movements of God in the midst of great crisis. May that be the case now." That's what I am praying. Let's face it: we have a God who is mightier and more powerful than the earthquake that was the equivalent of 1 million atomic bombs, a God who is more far-reaching and over-whelming than tsunamis 50 feet tall travelling at 500 miles an hour that could wipe out lives and buildings in an instant, thousands of miles away from where they originated. That's the God that we serve. And he has the power and ability to impact these peoples' lives in an even greater way than this destruction; let's be a part of his movement and pray for those people who so desperately need our God. He alone can make their worlds whole.
Right now I'm listening to WOW 2005, and there is a beautiful, moving song by Avalon on there called "You Were There." Christina was actually the first one to introduce me to this song. I wanted to post part of the lyrics--I think it applies to these times, because in the midst of everything, the Lord was still there, and he was still the amazing, powerful God he's always been:
You were there, You were there
During history’s darkest hour
You were there, You were there always
You were the Victor and the King
You were the power in David's swing
You were the calm in Abraham
You are the God who understands
You are the strength when we have none
You are the living, Holy one
You were, You are and You will always be
the Risen Lamb of God
Anyways, I wanted to say thanks to so many of you who have called to check on how my family is. Your concern means so much, and I'm thankful to have friends who care like that.
I've kept up with my family the last few days in Georiga, and now I'm back in Texas. Lance took me out last night to eat at a really nice restaurant, and it was really great to see him again and spend time together. We exchanged Christmas presents, and he gave me a beautiful pearl ring, necklace, and earrings--they are beautiful!! Then, on my impulse, we caught an 11:00 movie. Today I've just been doing a few things for my grandmom, catching up on some e-mail, and listening to my new CDs. Just wanted to catch you up and give a little more detail about how my family's doing. Thanks again for your concern and prayers; they will continued to be needed in the weeks and months ahead. I can't help but thank God for the gift of my family, life, love, safety, and security...because all of those things, as we've found, can be stripped away in an instant. But we know that nothing can separate us from God's love for us, and I pray that he will show that to the thousands of people who are living in a nightmare right now. May God bless each of you with family, life, love, safety, and security; they are precious gifts; HIS love is a precious gift. And I am so thankful for those gifts.
posted by Katy @ 5:53 PM
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