March 01, 2011

HOPE

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In the midst of the devastation that has rocked Christchurch and all of this nation I have watched the images and wept again, again and again.  We are indeed one nation and when one part is hurting we all hurt with it.

Today as we observed 2 minutes silence to honour and respect those who have paid the ultimate price in this disaster, I could feel a shaking deep within me, something alive and feeling this loss with every fibre of my being.

As I've sat contemplating the damage and death and loss faced by the people of Christchurch and those who love and care for them, I am reminded of one of my favourite stories in the bible, Noah's ark.

Having survived total devastation of everything around them, and floated in the ark for a long time, Noah and his family begin to think ahead and Noah opens up the ark and eventually sends out a dove to see if she will find some dry land.

The dove returns, having found nowhere to land, and Noah puts out his hand and draws her back into the safety of the ark.

Time and again we are like that dove, we have faced things that are difficult and we do not know where to stand in them.  It is in these times most of all that God, in all his loving kindness and compassion, puts out His hand to draw us deep into Himself.

Eventually Noah sent the dove out again, and this time she returned with an olive leaf that showed that indeed there was life to be seen and found, and then on the third time, she did not return at all as she had found a place to land.

May it be so for those most affected by this terrible earthquake, and for those who love and care for them.  May our loving and merciful God take them into His great and creative hands, and hold them safe for a season of healing and restoration.  When the time is right, may they be released, strong and able, to go out and find their place to stand.

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