Pain of tragedy

So much pain! Not only in Christchurch but also Japan. My own children visited that nuclear power station only a few years ago. Their host family are alright they assure me. But so much pain! Thousands of families grieving and most of them don't know God.

And what can we do? We can give money of course but what else? Most of us feel helpless. Tonight I am reading in the Auckland Libraries Fundraiser for Christchurch. I will be reading from the Introduction of 'Know God More' and they will not be a Christian audience. I wonder how they will respond to the questions I bring up about God, the scriptures as part of that text, and my own heart as the book describes my search to know more about God, what He is like, to know Him personally so I can at least try and understand Him a little more.

'Know God More' was the result of me trying to do just this - get to know Him - in the face of pain and tragedy in my own life. And I did succeed. I still don't know Him fully of course but I do know Him so much more than I ever did before even though I had been a Christian for years and attended Bible studies, retreats, home groups, ocnferences and more.

It is a knowing, at the end of the day, that is a revelation. A gift from God. And yet locked in this longing to know Him even more intimately we can continue to explore, read, pray and yes, even in the midst of terrible tragedy we can find Him.