Let's just say that God was conducting a mass mobilisation exercise

"71,000 and still rising steadily...number may climb to & exceed 100,000"

Shocking statistics. Numbers that seemed to double daily.

The catastrophe came as a great shock to me amidst the joyous celebrations of Christmas and our Church's very own Feast Day celebrations - as such, I was cooped up in church the whole weekend. It wasn't until the feast day dinner was over did I realise that such a calamity had happened.

Grim pictures of dead bodies being picked up by bulldozers and cruelly dumped into a plot of land that is to be a mass grave for these hundreds or even thousands, piling up of hundreds more at open-air make-shift mortuaries, heart-wrenching scenes of helpless family members still refusing to give up resuscitating their loved ones - knowing it's already too late; bereaved families who grieve in despair as they gradually lose hope each day and try to come to terms with the possible reality that their missing loved ones are probably gone already - These are scenes that made millions of hearts cry out in grief, in sympathy, in pity...

But my friend says it best with this consolation - "Well, they finally get to see God..."
Indeed, it seems positive from a different perspective - "Perhaps God's plan was to call some of His people back. And now many more thousands would be able to see Him & dwell in His Kingdom for eternity."

That brought me to enlightenment once again - all these happened for a reason, for His purpose which we cannot decipher completely - Still I wonder, why is it that these people had to be the ones who experience the wrath of Nature, why not the 'more deserving ones' - like me for example =p And many more "Whys" continue to dwell in my mind, waiting to be answered & solved - because they defy logic & reason.

The only reason I can think of is - God is probably putting those who are spared from the disaster i.e us, to the test - it is heartening to note that countries around the world are all helping out, in the aftermath of the disaster - with outpouring of donations from many well-wishers, pledges of millions of dollars from governments, and the list goes on. This shows that if the world is capable of being united in tiding over this global humanitarian crisis, the world is also capable of attaining and maintaining what is thought to be impossible by many - world peace.

Well, from the way it looks - we still have a bit more to go in order to pass the test, deservingly.

So do pick up your phone & make a donation through the many hotlines available, if you haven't. Or make a donation in any way.

Or pray.

It's the least we could do to help.

For us who are spared, the lesson being - we should keep vigilant & be prepared to face God, should Death come a-knocking. This incident has emphasized the harsh reality that we could be dead - the next instant, the next second. Nobody knows & decides except Him.

And remember and be appreciative & thankful that our land is spared from this catastrophe. If tsunamis were to make impact at our shores, or worse still - at East Coast Park, I would probably be amongst the first to perish =S

Thank God for showing mercy.


P.S: Pls pray especially for our deceased, injured & missing Singaporeans in the affected area; also, my best friend & classmate who went holidaying in Sri Lanka - he was supposed to arrive back in Singapore today, but there's still no news of him yet.