In various places

With all the coverage of January's earthquake tragedy in Haiti, I guess I'm sensitive to such news; so I took note of Friday's earthquake in Japan. Kind of a big one, but Japan has quakes fairly often and they are more prepared to deal with them.

Today's news of the massive earthquake in Chile - some say the fifth most powerful in recorded history - did get my attention. My guess is that the death toll will be much lower than in Haiti due to the better construction, even though it was a more powerful quake. That said, what a calamity. The destruction must be enormous, and we'll get a better idea of that as the days roll on.

And just try to imagine the colossal amount of energy released, to send waves across the world's largest ocean - one fourth of the Earth's surface! - to a height of six feet in Hawaii. Such things are measured, but I can't grasp it.

Earlier today I was reminded of a Bible verse...Jesus had just told his disciples that a time would come when the temple would be thrown down; not one stone would be left upon another. Three of the disciples asked,

"Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled" (Mark 13:4, NIV)

Jesus replies, speaking of false Christs, and wars and rumor of wars, then

"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains." - Mark 13:8 (NIV)

A familiar verse, and I remember hearing it mentioned often in the 1970's, when Hal Lindsay's book "The Late Great Planet Earth" came out, and Biblical prophecies of the "end times" were discussed. This seemed quite a new thing to us young Christians. Nothing wrong with studying scripture, but looking back now it seems we were so focused on the end of the world that that study took on a life of it's own.

No one in my circle of friends was totally convinced - we didn't sell out and head for the hills to await the end - but most of us thought there was something to this talk. I recall one conversation when the question came up, would we make it out of the seventies? Good question...boy, I don't know.

But you can't worry about such things, and after all,

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come." (Mark 13:32-33, NIV)

So the decades continued to roll, 1980 came, then 1990, 2000, and now 2010. Our lives continue, and even among those of the faithful, we've taken on a lot of cares. Speaking for myself, I now have the attitude of yes, Jesus spoke of the end times among many other things, but until He returns I have to walk in faith every day. I'm just not as focused on those exciting passages now, as I was in my college days.

That said, Jesus did tell his followers to be alert for such signs. And I do remember someone back then interpreted the "birth pains" in verse 8 meaning that earthquakes would occur closer together and be stronger.

I don't really expect another major earthquake in another place tomorrow (I'm not talking about aftershocks in Chile here). But just in case one does occur somewhere else, that will grab my attention.