I’ve been following the news of the South Korean ferry that sank on Korean news channels. Death toll is now at 212 and expected to reach 302 – 90 are still missing, buried under the sea… What makes it all the more heartbreaking is that most were 16, 17 year olds. The parents of these children are understandably in utter devastation. I know being a parent myself, there isn’t a thing they wouldn’t do or sacrifice if it means getting their child back.

The death toll of the storms in the south has now reached 36. I watched this heart-wrenching story of a 4 year old girl who was safe in the arms of a daycare worker who protected her. The girl lived, but the woman died… She died to save her life. http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/04/30/dnt-tornado-ms-daycare-child-rubble.wlbt.html

The little girl’s parents are sobbing with gratitude to the woman who died to save their daughter’s life.

If you lost your loved one (children, spouse, mother), what would you not give up in order to get her/him back? And imagine if by a miracle, you got your loved one back alive. How ecstatic would you be? What would get you down at that point? Would being in a crummy job get you down? Would getting a traffic ticket get you down? Would your car needing a repair get you down? Of course not! You are so ecstatic that you got your loved one back, nothing else would matter.

Is your loved one alive? Then, be thankful. Whatever you may have lost or agonized over in the past weeks is fluff.

And then think of God and His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus embraced you in His arms and took the arrows on His body, protecting you from being pierced, so He died but you lived. The Father agonizes over His Son much worse than a mom would over her child because God’s love is infinite and so His grief is also infinite.

Live every moment thanking God for your life.

Live every moment thanking God for your loved one’s life.

Live every moment fearing this God who can take everything that matters to you away in one moment.

Live every moment loving this God who did not spare His own Son for you.

“Safe?… Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.   

PH