Tuesday afternoon, as I sat at a restaurant with my friend, our table began to shake. We each thought the other was moving the table only to realize that we were having an earthquake. What? That does not happen in New Jersey. No it does not. Yet, we both burst into laughter as we watched the things around us all move. The chandeliers were swinging back and forth, the glasses on the table were clinking as if about to make a toast, and cars in the parking lot were moving…actually moving. The initial earthquake lasted about one minute where we were and yet was felt up the entire Northeast United States. Some people were scared…I just found it to be hilarious because that kind of thing does not happen in this area.

If having a minor earthquake was not enough for New Jersey, scaring the elderly and easily fearing people of the region, we were then hit with Hurricane Irene this past weekend. Now I lived in Florida when I went to college and graduate school and survived many hurricanes and storms. Irene was nothing like any of those storms. However, a storm is a storm. As Irene approached my area, the winds picked up, the sky darkened, and the rains were pouring from the heavens. Within a few hours my back yard was flooded and my pool overflowing. During the course of the weekend, the storm tore through bringing some wind damage and tornadoes. However, what made this storm so bad for my area was the rain. Every river, lake, pond and at the coastline, was overflowing in the surrounding areas. The flooding went into houses, basements, cars. It took out small bridges, flooded streets, and basically made what was not a severe hurricane, very annoying.

[Photos courtesy of Courierpostonline.com and Washington Post]

For anyone who has gone through an earthquake, tornado, flood, or hurricane- you can definitely understand, if not better than those in this area, the severity of such an event. What had me thinking was the fact this all happened in a 6 day period. It made me think of Creation and how it started off as perfect and good, but with sin in Man, the earth is no longer perfect. Creation groans, like a woman in childbirth, because of the anguish of sin and the imperfection of this world [Romans 8:22]. I cannot help but find this to be fascinating. The earth recognizes the imperfection of this world and groans- clearly showing that there is more to this physical earth than just elements and science- and yet sees God. There has to be more. It shows the Creator. With that it worships Him, God- the Creator of this world. It shows the majesty of a God who created this world, though perfect in its beginning, and his power. I have to believe that in a storm, earthquake, tsunami or any other natural disaster you can think of, that somehow Creation, in its imperfection, is trying to worship God. All I can do in the devastating things that happen in this world is believe that God is a mighty God deserving my worship and honor, as well as believe that this world one day, again, have the perfect beauty of God. I look forward to that day.