05/22/20 HOW COULD GOD LET THIS HAPPEN? — In 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita demolished the Gulf coast. Several members of our small church accompanied me to Gulfport, MS and New Orleans. We had no idea how many Waffle House restaurants there were down there. At one interstate exchange in Alabama, there were 4! But as we got closer to our destination, we noticed that more and more of the letters were gone from their signs. First there was “Waf..e Hous.”, then “.af.le …use” and finally, just “W….. …..” or “…..e …..”. In the midst of all that devastation and suffering those were light-hearted moments.

After we arrived we began to prepare and hand out meals and household items. Many residents were not just desperate, sad and frustrated; they were furious! Several threatened to run over my helpers with their cars if we didn’t serve them immediately. Most of the angry people asked us some variation of the same question: “How could God have let this happen?” As gently as I knew how, I told nearly every one, “When you ask the Wrong Questions, you NEVER get the Right Answers! Repeat after me: “WE ARE THE PROBLEM; GOD IS THE SOLUTION!” Almost every one broke down, wept and thanked me; a couple asked if I would preach at their church the next Sunday!

As we continue to adjust and adapt to life with and, hopefully soon, beyond this pandemic, I propose we remember that “WE ARE THE PROBLEM; GOD IS THE SOLUTION!”