A few comments Nick will be making before his sermon tomorrow while the question of the earthquake is still fresh in everyone's mind:
EarthquakesToday at 4:35 am I was woken by Lynn who felt the beginnings of the first quake which had its epicentre in Christchurch. The initial quake is estimated at 7.2 on the richter scale, and has been followed by many aftershocks, some as high as 5.3. Damage is thought to be over 1 billion dollars, but any thought to what has been suffered in terms of work flow, houses, infrastructure, injuries, etc. There is so much trauma. 5% of the buildings in the inner city are damaged, and a large aftershock is still expected. (
www.stuff.co.nz).
The website
www.earthquake.usgs.gov claims that there are 500 000 earthquakes every year. The pertinent question to be asked is what does the Bible say about earthquakes, and what is God’s involvement with them?
Since the earthquake in King Uzziah’s time mentioned in the Bible in Amos 1:1 and Zech 14:5, earthquakes have usually been a symbol of God’s wrath. When God was pouring out His wrath against sin upon His own Son there was an earthquake (Matt 27:54). When Jesus was prophesying the fall of Jerusalem and the signs of the end of the age, He spoke of various earthquakes as the beginning of the birth pains (Mark 13:8) “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.” And in the book of Revelation when the final end of time comes, an earthquake unequalled is the sign of its arrival (Rev 11:13, 16:18).
What do we make then of the 7.2 on the 4th of September 2010? Was it a judgment from God? Is Christchurch a city deserving of an earthquake, and Timaru not? Let me remind you of some of Christ's words in Luke 13:1-5 (ESV) “There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. [2] And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? [3] No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. [4] Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? [5] No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus does not get into the reasons why. However He does intimate that we are no less deserving. Jesus allows this present calamity to remind us of the worst calamity that can befall a human being: to stand in the presence of a holy God to give an account of your sins. Jesus tells them that they must allow the reality of that catastrophe, and the question of their sinfulness to drive us to search our own hearts and make sure that we are ready to meet our maker. Jesus turns the tables for us, that instead of us putting God in the docks, He makes sure that we never squirm from the limelight.
However let's try to answer some questions about this. Was God judging them? I don’t know, is the short answer. Let me tell you what I do know: God is good, He is wise, He never acts foolishly or unjustly. I don’t know what God was doing in Christchurch, but I do know something general of His ways from His word. I know that sometimes when His people sinned He used a foreign nation to wage war against them and drive them out of the land (Assyria and Babylon); not only did He use other humans to inflict His righteous judgments on sin, He also used natural catastrophes. We see the locusts of Joel, and the 10 plagues in Egypt.
However, lest we think that God is reigning His fire of judgment on us every time something bad happens to us let us also remind ourselves of other reasons. God refines us and makes stronger people out of us in trials (Romans 5:2-5). God uses difficulty to teach us contentment, and to find our treasure in Him (Psalm 73). He uses our suffering as part of the spiritual battle and His purposes for the devil (Eph 3:10, Job). Suffering weans us from this world and fits us with a greater longing for heaven (Romans 8:18-21). Our suffering equips us to minister to others and bring healing to them (2 Cor 1:6), to teach us not to rely on ourselves but on Him (2 Cor 1:9), testifies to the reality of our faith, etc, etc. In other words, I don’t know what God is doing exactly in Christchurch; He may have as many purposes as there are people there, but I do know that He is working out His purposes to perfection. Our response is not one of accusation, but heeding the message of Jesus, we must repent. We do not accuse Him by the reckoning of our judgment, but rather we trust to His. We do not doubt His character but welcome His refining of ours. And in this token judgment we are reminded that one day there will be a final judgment where we all stand before God. We will either be dressed in the deeds we have done or the righteousness of Christ. All who put off their own lives of sin, and accept the free gift of righteousness that Jesus won for us will have nothing to fear. Others will be begging for the mountains to fall on them to hide them from the wrath of God. The terror we feel in those moments of catastrophe when our guard is down and our frailty is thrust upon us, is merely a taste of worse to come for all who have not sought their refuge in Christ as their Ark.
It was the boys' turn to wash dishes today (or so the girls said, anyway). Each month they take a turn and all kids aged 9 and over are expected to participate. Good ruling. Caleb and Aaron skyped their cousins in Joburg after the pm service and we also got to see our newest nephew Logan, now two months old and such a darling!
Sometimes Nick does take a day off - it's never a Monday, but if he's finished all his necessary prep then he takes Friday. Today was such a day. We took a drive up to Christchurch for Nick to trade in a much-despised lens for something that he can better use (he traded a Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 for a Nikkor 85mm f/1.8). We decided to make it an early Father's Day treat as Nick is working on Sunday. It's a fairly enjoyable two-hour drive especially now in spring - snow covered mountains and fields of new lambs are two constants. 
After getting the lens and browsing the shop (ooooh, that 105mm macro has my name on it) we found a McDonalds and had lunch, at which point the weather turned bad - it had been getting progressively colder, but the rain came down as well. 
We had hoped to explore the city which we partially did while I was getting us lost (I mean navigating) but weather forced us home. Some time after Ashburton the rain stopped and so did we, just for a short break. 
Drove through Temuka City Centre instead of skirting it on the main highway - lovely to see the historical buildings on the main shopping street.
Following are Nick's photos, taken with his new lens (oops, they're mostly of me...I guess I was the most available subject! The last one is of Hillary, Nick's 4 pm guitar pupil).
(Spotted this cute yellow mini on an adjoining property as I was wandering around). Just as our clubs were ending, the Badminton club began under Matt's tutelage. We decided rather spontaneously to let Caleb sign up even though it meant hanging around for another hour. In future we'll let Aaron play as well, so as of today they are in a sports club! We're all pretty excited about the mutually beneficial clubs.
Had an excellent time with them, and as soon as they left we gathered ourselves for tea at the Barretts. Over much chatting and laughter we ate DIY hamburgers...what a great idea, and Nigel cooked the home-made patties on the barbie. Super scrumptious. Peggy also spoiled us with chocolate eclairs for pudding. A great evening!
Sunday (between services) and Monday I've sort of been chained to the Mac in preparation for a fairly photo-intensive week. Nothing to report on the job front yet, but really, where would I fit in time to go to work? :)
Our first stop was the Otago Museum which is just huge and maze-like and extremely interesting. One could take hours wandering through the various exhibit rooms and still not be done. We also amused ourselves with the 'whispering dishes' outside which really worked! 
Sore feet and two hours later we went to check on Erinmarie...she was still in the chair so we left her and drove to the Botanical Gardens (free parking available at Coundown across the road; I bought a bottle to Bovril to justify my parking there as a legitimate customer). We hadn't even walked through a quarter of the gardens when Erin texted to say she was done, so we left hastily. After that the really fun part of the journey happened...finding our way to the motel across town through a disorganized labyrinth of streets, during rush hour, with the sun in our eyes; the busy roads did not allow any pulling-over to examine maps so we had to just drive in the general direction until we could find a place to stop to gather ourselves and look at the map again (pulling into a single-laned dead-end hectically steep road and having to turn around must have been my ultimate lowlight). It was with huge relief that we eventually pulled into the motel grounds for the night! Spent a great evening together with the girls doing homework on my bed. Friday we were up reasonably early and got the room packed up before having our breakfast. We had a good long look at the map before venturing through the city again towards the now-familiar streets housing the huge Dental Faculty of the University of Otago. Although Erin's appointment was only at midday, we parked outside the building anyway and then walked around a few blocks. Wandered around this magnificent old church (Anglican I think) and I found out just how scared of heights I am when we reached the top of the winding steeple staircase. 
I was very sad to see a beautiful Baptist Church building being used as a bar; next door to it the Sunday School block is housing a travel agent. When our parking time ran out we left and drove to KFC (yay, free parking) for an early lunch, followed by McDonalds ice-creams. And then back to Frederick Street where Erin just had a short wait for her appointment, and Dannica sat reading for an hour until her consultation while I went to explore more of the surrounds. 
They were both done by 1.30 and we were ready to head home, glad to be out of the city! Stopped off at Koekohi Beach to see the famous Moeraki Boulders - one ideally wants to photograph these strange rocks at sunrise or sunset, but they are spectacular and unusual at any time of day. There is a gift shop and restaurant surround the boulders complete with a deer paddock. Didn't tarry too long, and were finally back in good old Timaru at 5 pm, thankful to the Lord for safe travels. Nick had a clean house and cottage pie ready and waiting - what a blessing!
