The Hope of Restoration

No one could have missed yet another example of the earth's ability to demolish and destroy this weekend as Hurricane Irene collided with the East Coast. Irene wreaked damage, but not as much as originally feared by its precarious trajectory across major East Coast cities.

What might have been overlooked about this natural disaster is that, as 2011’s tenth billion-dollar episode, it has tied the 2008 record for most billion-dollar disasters in one calendar year.

Courtesy of Our Amazing Planet, here are the others:

Upper Midwest flooding, summer: Melting of an above-average snowpack across the northern Rocky Mountains, combined with above-average precipitation, caused the Missouri and Souris rivers to swell beyond their banks across the Upper Midwest. An estimated 11,000 people were forced to evacuate Minot, N.D., due to the record high level of the Souris River. Numerous levees were breached along the Missouri River, flooding thousands of acres of farmland. The flooding, which is ongoing, has caused more than $2 billion in damages.

Mississippi River flooding, spring-summer: Persistent rainfall (nearly triple the normal precipitation amounts in the Ohio Valley), combined with melting snowpack, caused historical flooding along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. The region suffered $2 billion to $4 billion in losses. At least two people died.

Southern Plains/Southwest drought, heat wave and wildfires, spring-summer: Drought, heat waves, and wildfires scorched through Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, southern Kansas, western Arkansas and Louisiana this year. In Texas and Oklahoma, respectively, 75 percent and 63 percent of range and pasture conditions were classified as "very poor" as of mid-August. Wildfire fighting costs for the region are about $1 million per day. Well over $5 billion in damage has been done so far, with over 2,000 homes and structures lost.

Midwest/Southeast tornadoes, May 22-27: Central and southern states saw approximately 180 twisters and 177 deaths within a week . A tornado rated EF-5 on the tornado damage scale struck Joplin, Mo., resulting in at least 141 deaths, making it the deadliest single tornado to strike the United States since modern tornado record keeping began in 1950. The total losses were greater than $7 billion.

Southeast/Ohio Valley/Midwest tornadoes, April 25-30: This outbreak of tornadoes over central and southern states led to 327 deaths. Of those fatalities, 240 occurred in Alabama. The deadliest of the estimated 305 tornadoes in the outbreak was an EF-5 that hit northern Alabama, killing 78 people. Several major metropolitan areas were directly affected by strong tornadoes, including Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Huntsville, Ala., and Chattanooga, Tenn. Total losses exceeded $9 billion.

Midwest/Southeast tornadoes, April 14-16: An outbreak over central and southern states produced an estimated 160 tornadoes. Despite the large overall number of tornadoes, few were classified as intense, with just 14 EF-3 --and no EF-4 or EF-5 -- tornadoes identified. Total losses were greater than $2 billion. Thirty-eight people died, 22 of them in North Carolina.

Southeast/Midwest tornadoes, April 8-11: An outbreak of tornadoes over central and southern states saw an estimated 59 tornadoes. Total losses were greater than $2.2 billion.

Midwest/Southeast tornadoes, April 4-5: An outbreak of tornadoes over central and southern states saw an estimated 46 tornadoes. Total losses were greater than $2.3 billion. Nine people died.

Groundhog Day blizzard, Jan 29-Feb 3: A large winter storm hit many central, eastern and northeastern states. Chicago was brought to a virtual standstill when 1 to 2 feet (0.3 to 0.6 meters) of snow fell across the city. Total losses were greater than $2 billion. The snowstorm killed 36 people.

You are not alone if that list raises an eyebrow. The intensity and sheer quantity of weather disasters in recent past has led more than one person to wonder if end times prophecies are slowly being fulfilled.

Is the world ending? Are we spiraling out of control? Is the earth hinging on the brink of absolute demolition?

No. We are neither left to our own devices, nor precariously hinging between death by earthquake or storm. The promise is not demolition, but restoration for those claiming redemption in Christ.

What we do know is that no one knows the day or hour except for the Father (Matthew 24:36) and the city that we are waiting for is worth the wait… For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come... A city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Hebrews 11&13).

Until then, we shouldn’t be surprised by calamities.  It's part of being fallen.  Of course this doesn't dismiss the pain of death and loss, but it does remind us that this is not all there is to life.  We are expectantly waiting for something more.  Thank God!  Romans explains that creation is subject to frustration at its present state, but it will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom that we as children of God have already tasted.

In the words of Nicole Unice:

God Made it Good.
Sin Made it Suffer.
Love Walked Among Us.
To live free, Believe–
Our Risen King Cometh!

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:22-25