downpour

it rained today. more than i've ever seen it here in california. i don't think that it stopped for more than two hours. and when it rained, it poured. streets didn't have any more curbs; the new rivers were level with the sidewalks that bordered the roads. mudslides are beginning to threaten people's homes and the rainfall is apparently just beginning. news reporters are saying that the storm drains may not be able to hold all the water that is coming, they just weren't built for to the capacity that this storm demands.

a week ago, an earthquake happened. a 7.0 earthquake to be exact. it's epicenter (the center of the quake) happened just ten miles from the center of Haiti's capital. that city was home to 2 million people. prior to the quake, 80% of the country lived in poverty. immediately following the quake, 3 million people were in need of immediate aid. to date, there have been 33 aftershocks, ranging from 4.2 to 5.9. in the country of Haiti, there are no construction standards; buildings, homes, roads, neighborhoods are all built however the architect wants. a modest estimate of 60,000 missing has been put forward.

two weeks earlier, there was another quake in northern california.

two days after the Haitian quake, there was one in southern california.

why am i pointing all this out? it's not a negative angle that i'm coming from, it's just a reminder that i've had. we are not in control. i don't think there is anything we could have done to predict the earthquake, and certainly nothing we could have done to prevent it. before the storms came, southern california had not had significant rain in 25 years i'm told. then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a storm comes that drenches the region. hearing all of the stories and seeing the flooding, it was a reminder that we are not in control. it seems that way sometimes, when we make work for something or plan something that comes together well. but we are only human. something bigger controls our existence. it allows us to move and breathe. it allows us to live on this earth.

i don't know what purpose all of these things serve but it makes me think about how i live life. do i try to control my own world; or are the reigns in someone else's hand? someone bigger?

Ps. 24:1 "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it. The world and all it's people are His. For he laid the earth's foundations on the seas and built it on the ocean's depth."