Somewhere around 100 people are dead and many more missing after tsunami waves crashed into Samoa on Tuesday. An 8.0+ earthquake 125 miles from the island chain sent waves 15 to 20 feet high, reaching 1 mile inland, according to AP writers.

Our prayers go up to God for all those affected.

We also give thanks to God that it wasn't worse than it was.  Sirens warned many who were able to get to higher ground.  Lives were saved because of warning systems set in place for just this very thing.  Give glory to God that it worked.

But we too are reminded just how frail our own lives are.  God once sent a flood, not with waves 15 or 20 feet high, but waters high enough to cover the entire earth.  Instead of counting how many people died, the destruction was measured by how many survived.  Eight in all were saved - Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their wives.  And that was with a warning system in place!  For 120 years, Noah continued to build a giant boat in the middle of the land.  For 120 years, he was warning them that a flood was coming, and only God would provide a way out.  Noah and his family listened.  Everyone one else died.

I don't know why those 100+ people couldn't get away.  Maybe they didn't have enough time.  Maybe they didn't hear.  Maybe they didn't care.  It is our hope that they knew of their Savior before they left this world for the next.

Sudden or slow, our end is coming.  Do you hear the warning sirens?  God has promised never to use a world-wide flood again to destroy this world, but this world will one day end.  Chances are, your days here will end first.  Are you ready?  Do you know your Savior?  It is our hope and prayer that he finds you and reveals himself to you in his Bible, so that you may know that in the midst of destruction, you too may be saved.

Pastor Jansen