It’s the interview that has gone viral. Wolf Blitzer was interviewing a young woman holding her baby in the rubble of the Oklahoma tornado. “I guess you got to thank the Lord, right?” No response as the woman cuddled her baby. “Do you thank the Lord? For that split-second decision?” Her response, issued in a friendly voice: “I’m actually an atheist.” Awkward laughter from both of them, and then Blitzer brings the interview to an even more awkward close. “You are? Oh, all right. But you made the right call.”
The woman is being praised for her graceful response to a
question that, rather than a feel-good conclusion to an interview, turned
out to be an intrusion into her personal beliefs. Some pundits are going to so far as to say
that no one should be asking for prayers for the people of Oklahoma; not the
president, not the governor, and certainly not the reporters. (Follow this link to a Slate article, for instance) Instead of praying, people should be doing
their jobs, setting up disaster operations or, in the case of you and me,
sending money. After all, they continue,
if God is God, then God could’ve kept the tornado from hitting the elementary
school and causing the deaths of seven children. If God didn’t do that, then why should we
pray to that God now?
We are facing yet another disaster, and finger pointing has
begun, as always. There is value in
trying to figure out how to prevent future tragedies. This time, the cause
cannot be linked to our weak gun laws or flawed mental health system or
improper parenting or terrorism. While
it might be possible to link our increasingly severe weather to global climate
change caused by human factors, that long-range causation isn’t getting much
attention at the moment. Instead, God is
the one on the chopping block.
I can’t answer the “why” of this tornado in a way that would
satisfy everyone, including myself. I know that we live in a broken world that
has not yet experienced the fullness of God’s kingdom. The clouds in the sky that bring needed rains
and create beautiful, awe-inspiring sunsets are also the same clouds that drop
storms that batter the earth. I can’t account for the vagaries of a tornado
that would strike one school and spare another.
Just as there is no love on earth like the love of a parent for a child,
there is no pain on earth like the pain of a grieving parent. Today, seven
parents are grieving the loss of their children to a tornado, in addition to
the other families who grieve losses of other family members. My list of things
to ask God when we are finally face-to-face continues to grow.
Just because I cannot explain it all does not, however,
exempt me from my deep desire and, perhaps, obligation to pray for those
affected. I pray for the people to find
healing and solace. I pray for them to
know God’s presence and love, and for them to be able to experience that
presence and love through the hands of others. I pray that they will be led to
help others as they themselves have been helped.
