West Virginia Mine Disaster - The Disaster Within the Disaster

I stayed up late the other evening watching the Orange Bowl. Just prior to going to bed at the end of the game I flipped over to CNN to catch a quick look at the news. They were reporting that 12 of the 13 miners had been located and were alive. The images were of exuberant people, thankful for the apparent miracle.

Jennifer Yates, an AP writer captured the situation well in her report, Jubilation Turns to Anger, Outrage. "Shortly before midnight, word rushed up the hollow that 12 miners had been found alive and friends clapped in the early morning chill as a single ambulance drove away, presumably with one of the miners safely in the back.

"It just shows you enough prayers went out," Bula Smith, 27, said as she clutched her 7-month-old daughter, Cassey, close to her. "It's a miracle."The crowd gathered outside the church burst into a chorus of "How Great Thou Art" as family and friends threw themselves into each other's arms Everyone was praising God for answering prayers."

But the euphoria as you know was short lived and the when the truth was known, it shattered the atmosphere of the miraculous. Now the once crowded pews were largely empty in the Sago Baptist Church where earlier they sang and rejoiced.

When God doesn't act as we think He should.. How do we react to that? In the face of tragedy and heartache, where is God in all of this.

A disaster like this is a reminder to us of the brevity and the fragile nature of human life. It is also a reminder to us that every moment of life is a gift. It also reminds us of the sovereignty of God. Why does He allow things like this to happen... We truly cannot know! What we can know is a salvation that is able to conquer even death.... And in that there is comfort and victory!

Paul said it well, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better..." Philippians 1:21-23

Let us be fervent in praying for the families of the miners who perished in this terrible tragedy. Let us also pray that these families will be comforted as they deal with the travesty of mis-information that victimized them.

By His grace!