Good Day World,

I want to speak a little bit on natural disasters. The only major natural disaster that I experienced was Hurricane Sandy, but we were not affected much in the location I was in. My prayers go out to those who lost homes, precious items, and families to these events.

Natural disasters has a way of humbling us humans. I can see it now. Hurricane Harvey has devastated parts of Texas and that has taken up more news than the white nationalist vs anti-nationalist movement. When the tough times hit, it is our foundation that seems to stick. As an American, regardless of your beliefs, I feel a piece of your suffering when I listen to how people loss homes to hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, floods, earthquakes etc. As a human, I feel a piece of your suffering when I hear about these events in other countries.

I was listening to news about the Sierra Leone mudslide. This was a mudslide that devastated a town, killing hundreds of people to the point that there were no rescue efforts any more, it was more of a search and find operation. A truly horrendous, and sad operation. They had to have mass grave funerals due to the amount of bodies found.

Sierra Leone’s president Ernest Bai Koroma said, “Let me send my profound condolences to the bereaved families. This is not a tragedy for you alone-This is a tragedy for every civilian, for the people who has perished in this disaster are our compatriots.” Just like the body of Christ, when one part suffers, the whole body suffers. When part of our nation suffers, the whole nation suffers.

Now I do not know why natural disasters happen. Some people blame God for it, some people blame the Devil, and some people know it’s simply part of the world. But according to the Bible, God has the ability of stopping these disasters from occurring. We see multiple instances where Jesus controls the weather. So why would God allow these horrible things to occur???

You can ask him when you meet him, but I feel I said the answer up above. It is a humbling experience. We tend to put ourselves, our families, our money, our home, our career, our car, our bills, and our time above God, the creator of all those things. So when God moves and takes away all these things, what do you have left with?

Why do people ask for prayers when things go bad?

What else is there for you in this world…that loves you the way God loves you?

And most importantly, which of them lasts?

When you die you lose all these precious things you put above God, but then you get to meet God face to face. What will you say?

Just like everything else in this world, God uses them to point back to him. I’m not sure why, but I do know that if God’s in control, he wants you to repent and go back to him.

This Sunday, I will be releasing the next chapter in the Hall of Faith, Noah. God created a flood to kill every human on the face of the earth, except for a select few, to help point the entire race back to God. He then promised that he would never do something like that again.

Most people miss the simple message that the story of Noah’s Ark entails. It’s not just about the ark, or all the animals, or 40 days and 40 nights, or etc. It’s about God’s love for people, the fact that he reaches and selects those who would love and obey his command, to the point of building that ark and trusting what God said.

Back in those days…would God have selected you to be on that ark?

With love,

Ayodeji Alaketu