Hiroshima-type atomic bombs.
On that day, I experienced one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. The morning earthquake had triggered a series of devastating tsunamis that would kill more than 225,000 in eleven countries. People around us died that day, but my family survived. In the following paragraphs are the lessons that I learnt from that terrifying experience. I observed people responding in different ways during the tsunami, and these lessons can be applied to the challenges that each of us encounter in our everyday lives. Fear and Anxiety
Firstly, the “fear” was so suffocating that many people were emotionally paralysed and were unable to act. One Thai woman was so scared that she was being dragged by her two friends. She was screaming, her eyes were wide open and she looked like she was in a trance. She was so consumed by her own chaos that she stopped functioning effectively. Another woman, sitting at the swimming pool, was like an opossum or a kangaroo “caught in head lights”. Next to her was a child in a pram. She should have been acting but her mind had shut down and she was lucky that the first wave was small. Sometimes we can get so self-consumed, particularly by fear and anxiety, that we don’t hear the “God whispers”. If we get scared and intimidated, then we will forget our responsibilities and don’t operate effectively. Fear will stop you from moving forward and, particularly in ministry, we have to be careful that fear does not enter our hearts. Fear will stop you moving forward, stop you acting and will stop you listening to God. 2 Timothy 1:7 says “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”
The answer is in Isaiah 41:10: “Fear not, for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen, yes, I will help you; yes, and I will hold you up.” The simple lesson is “Don’t limit God” with fear and anxiety, he is a big God with a big vision for your life. Distraction
One of the most dangerous responses to the tsunami was the trap of “distraction”. People literally died of put their lives in danger because they got distracted. They were so busy trying to “read the tea leaves” in God’s tea cup of an ocean that they missed the big message. One man ignored my cry of warning, pulled out his camera and headed down to the waves, now about 200 metres further out than normal. He was so distracted by the low tide, and the cute little fish flopping everywhere, that he missed the big picture. God didn’t put up a big sign saying “massive wave coming, please run” but he did drop some big hints for those that were not distracted. In ministry it is very easy to be like the camera man. We get distracted with our own agenda, we do the things that we like to do, and we forget about God’s agenda. Listen to Jeremiah 6:10: “To whom can I give warning? Who will listen when I speak? Their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. They scorn the word of the LORD. They don’t want to listen at all.” This is God telling the Israelites that they were totally distracted. They wanted no part of God because living for him didn’t appear very exciting and other things did. We think our agenda is so much better my advice is to keep our eyes on God’s agenda and not get distracted.