On the other hand, I've seen mountains here with the entire mountainside gone, from the last deadly quake.
The next one could happen at any time. We all live in the meantime, whether we like it or not.
According to the theory of plate tectonics, earthquakes are caused by giant pieces of the earth's crust pushing against each other. When enough pressure builds, they overcome whatever incomprehensible forces of friction hold them in place and skip past each other, just a little. That little skip sends out massive shockwaves (of various kinds) which rock the surface.
I've experienced earthquakes of various kinds in Taiwan. One of the first was a magnitude 4+ over on the east coast, with the epicenter very close to us. At first I thought a train was rolling right next to the building we were in, then I remembered there were no train tracks so close. Then I thought it was an airplane, but it would have to be nearly skimming the ground to shake the room like that. About that time someone said "we should probably go outside," and we evacuated to see the trees and other buildings trembling for a few more seconds before the tremor passed.
Another time (several years ago) I was sitting in my 2nd floor apartment in Taipei and suddenly a small and very deep earthquake right below the city sent seismic waves straight up. My chair did a little hop (with me in it), and while I was trying to figure out what had happened, I heard all the metal doors in the building that opened into the stairwell begin rattling in their frames, floor by floor, up to the top. By the time I wondered if I should evacuate the building, it was pretty much over. (I have a feeling that if I ever experience a severe enough earthquake, I won't be pondering this question)
I appreciate earthquakes.
They remind me that the "solid ground" we stand on, dig into, build cities on, is not fundamentally solid, merely massive slabs of rock which are but a thin crust floating above a mantle, which lies above an outer and inner core.
What we want to rely on as solid and immovable turns out to be more like a cracked eggshell above burning molten rock, whirling on its own tilted axis, itself constantly in flight around the raging, spherical cauldron of nuclear fusion known as our sun.
All this is a more emphatic confirmation of what earthquakes remind me, namely that change is constant, and what we trust for security is fundamentally unstable. One seeks in vain for anything physical, tangible, concrete, which could not at some point give way. Authority figures grow old and eventually die, institutions fail, even great nations and mighty empires break apart, fade, and are lost to the annals of history.
Life is fleeting, as Solomon observed. We are here for a moment, then gone, like the flowers that fade.
A life invested in preservation, in the collection of physical things or assets, in the building of something doomed to swift obsolescence (sometimes even before we are gone), is a life spent in vain, on building sandcastles while the tide has not yet come in. It's a hard truth, one many people, perhaps many Christians, do not want to hear. But scripture makes the point repeatedly: our only legacy is our eternal legacy. The world itself is not eternal, and scripture is quite clear on its fate.
"...the heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare." (2 Peter 3:10)
Your valuable possessions are stored in what, the world's most secure bank vault? It could be gone tomorrow, like Pompeii, like Fukushima. The earth itself is unsafe, an unstable foundation. Jesus' words about not laying up treasures on earth make a lot of sense in an earthquake... So don't do it.
Your things are not eternal; the world is not eternal; only God, people, and truth are eternal.
Live for what is eternal, before the ground gives way beneath you.
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