Where Were You?

Where were you when 9/11 happened?  Or when Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans?  What about Port-au-Prince?  Can you remember where you were or what you were doing at the time? 

I was sitting in my 12th grade English class when the first plane struck the World Trade Center.  The bell had rung and I rushed to my next class to see that image staring at me from the TV screen.  I sat perplexed and dazed, completely unaware of what the following moments would entail.  As the story unraveled and the other planes crashed, I couldn’t help but wonder what it must have been like to actually be at the scene when it occurred.  Those same thoughts raced through my mind as stories of Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti Earthquake plastered the news.  What were the people feeling?  What did they see?  And…where was God in all of it?

Did he turn a blind eye to the suffering and the screams of these people?  I’ve been starting to wonder…where were you God?

Tonight I met a man.  He was younger, full of life and joy and genuinely passionate about his work.  He greets everyone with an endearing smile and it’s safe to say that he has some serious charm.  As this man began to open up and share his story, I soon realized that his story contained many answers to these nagging questions that have been plaguing me.

Before the earthquake this guy had come to Haiti in hopes of God revealing some life-altering purpose.  He had been working with an organization digging latrines in the Petit Guave area, hardly the dream he had imagined would change his life. 

He began asking God, “is this it?  Did I really come to Haiti to dig latrines?  Will you show me what it is you have for me here?”

January 12th, 2010 began like any other day I would imagine.  No doubt he made his breakfast, brushed his teeth, and headed off to do the Lord’s plumbing.  After completing his task, he even managed to play some soccer with some of the locals.  During a break in their game, the sky begin to turn black.  As he explained it, a large flock of birds flew into the sky blotting out the sun at the exact same time…

Where were you when the earthquake in Haiti hit? 

The very next moment, he experienced a sudden drop as if the entire earth beneath him completely sunk instantaneously.  There was a slight pause as everyone stared in awe.  Then, in what could only be described as the loudest of groans, the earth trembled and quaked as screams echoed from the surrounding mountains.  The ground moved with such fluidity as if it was an ocean wave cresting and tossing unassuming bystanders up into the air and thrashing them back to the ground.  He related the image of one of his translators being taken up into the air and crashing into another man who was thrown by the earth.  Two men hit the ground, only one stood up.  This man, who experienced it firsthand, was himself thrown against a wall and blacked out momentarily.  When he rose, the earth still trembled as he made his way through the chaos and yelling.  He explained the vast numbers of people that he saw strewn across the ground lifeless and covered and in a deep crimson color but his gaze became fixed on one small 7-year-old girl trapped beneath the rubble.

At that moment, he prayed for supernatural strength to lift the burdensome rock that trapped this poor child.  He tried and tried but the weight was too heavy.  He then tried to pull the child but with each tug, the girl shrieked in terror and pain.  He told us that with each aftershock, he would run off and come back and check on her to see that she was still alive.  She would tug on his arm not to leave.  So he sat.  He sat there gazing into her eyes as he held her close.  He prayed over her and continued to hold her as life instantly changed.  The next morning he squeezed her fist as hard as he could to illicit a response, any response at all.  Nothing.  Life had been taken from this sweet child.

Anger and sadness filled this man.  Purpose that he had sought out before arriving in Haiti didn’t seem to make sense after such an intense tragedy.  He told story after story about the ensuing days and how with each quake it seemed more lives that were close to him were lost.  He recounted children with missing arms and legs that would scream for their mothers.  His dreams were filled with blood-stained memories that kept him up at nights vomiting over the images he saw.  Tears streamed from his eyes as his voice quivered,

“God, where were you?”

As he told us about the people that he accompanied during their final breaths, it clicked that God was there all along.  In the midst of such devastating and crushing events, Jesus was there to hold the hand of the dying girl.  Jesus helped these children with missing limbs search for their parents and get medical attention.  This man represented the body of Christ aiding and serving the broken and hurting.  He put himself in harm’s way to see others restored.  That is who Jesus is and exactly what he did.  Through this man’s trail of tears, I have seen that God does not abandon people or turn a blind eye to them in the time of greatest need.  God’s Spirit was present so that others may see him and today I met the man who was there when the earth groaned in Port-au-Prince.

The Rescuer.

The Healer.

The Savior.

Jesus.