Earthquake
Living through an earthquake can be a frightening experience. In a large earthquake, there is often much damage. Many buildings fall down and many lives are lost. Here is a story about a family in Guatemala when an earthquake hit in February 1976, and how God miraculously protected them from danger. God’s protection and safety for them was powerfully demonstrated.
Elizabeth and Fred and their family were spending their first night in the apartment above El Calvario Church in Guatemala City. They had driven in that day from San Antonio, Texas, with a fifteen-passenger van full of food, clothing, and blankets for these church members.
They had first been assigned to a little guesthouse out in the country belonging to some missionaries. After five days of travel in the van, the cottage looked so welcome that they rested a bit. Then around six that evening Elizabeth told Fred that she got an impression that it was urgent for them to go back to Guatemala City right now. She was sure they could spend the night in the apartment above the church. She thought that if they waited until the next day they might be delayed at various checkpoints.
So they drove to Guatemala City. At three in the morning Elizabeth lay awake with a verse from Isaiah 41 that kept going through her mind. “Fear thou not, for I am with thee.” She had been lying in bed since midnight meditating on this Scripture about being afraid of the ends of the earth trembling, and neighbours helping neighbours:
“The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came. They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage… Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee…” Isaiah 41:5, 6, 10.
Elizabeth looked at her watch – it was two minutes past three. The dog on the roof by the window let out a mournful howl. Other animals down the road began to wail. She wondered what was causing such an awful commotion.
Then, without warning, their bed suddenly flipped up in the air and bounced back down to the floor with great force, as though a powerful hand was pushing it. Fred and Elizabeth prayed. It was the only thing they knew to do. But the earth kept trembling.
When she raised herself out of bed, Elizabeth fell against the wall, breaking her watch. She then ran to the girls’ bedroom to arouse them. Fred followed her.
“Senor, get out. Pastor says for your family to get out of this building, Hurry! Hurry!” a young boy standing at the front door shouted at them. Elizabeth grabbed her Bible and underclothes and made her way down the stairs, which were already separating from the building.
The sky was a brilliant glow, orange-red in colour with yellow clouds puffing across the horizon. Was all the earth on fire? “Do not fear,” flashed before Elizabeth’s mind once again. She was amazed at the inner peace she felt as they crawled into the van for safety.
The massive earthquake that hit Guatemala at 7.6 on the Richter’ scale at 3:02 A.M. on February 4, 1976, lasted only thirty seconds. When all the tremors subsided, more than three hundred towns had been destroyed and more than a million people were homeless. An estimated seventy-seven thousand were injured and twenty-three thousand were killed. Of course, the family didn’t know the extent of the damage as they sat in the van huddled between blankets.
Thankful to God for the safety of their family, Elizabeth thought back over the events that had led them to this spot – arriving just in time to be in one of the worst calamities to hit this small Latin American country. They had been scheduled to bring the van to Guatemala City two months earlier, but the van had not come to the dealer from the factory.
When they received news that the van was finally on its way they prepared to leave, asking their pastor and congregation in Texas to pray for them, their trip and their mission. They started packing the van for their long drive. People from their church kept arriving at their house with blankets, sheets, coats, and jackets, wanting them to deliver them to needy Guatemalans. All the time they thought the donated items slightly inappropriate. Didn’t Guatemala have a mild climate? Why would people need blankets?
Elizabeth was puzzled by the abundance of canned goods donated for them to take. And just before they left, she threw 25 litres of water into the van. Allen, their teenage passenger, also brought 25 litres. Why? She wondered. Surely they didn’t need that much water.
The first major earthquake shock had covered 3,530 square miles, and Guatemala had been, in essence, ripped in two. We felt numerous tremors following the first massive quakes.
Fred and Elizabeth helped in whatever way they could. Over the next seven days they bedded down with their family each night in the van, happy to call it ‘home.’ They spent their days helping the homeless and injured, distributing blankets and canned foods. Now they realized why God had directed their church members to send so much in the van. The extra water was desperately needed too.
When Fred drove out into the country to check on the missionary family who had initially offered them their cottage, he saw that a cement post had fallen across the beds where their family would have been sleeping. God had certainly directed them to go into Guatemala City instead of staying there that night.
After the earthquake, many non-Christians accepted the Lord, just as the Philippian jailer did when the earthquake hit the prison in which Paul was held. Many in Guatemala knew their Christian friends had been protected. As horrible as some natural disasters are, if you dig for the rest of the story, you can usually find some life changing results. Nothing happens by accident. Although Satan tries to destroy a lot of people through these disasters, God overrules and protects His people as they pray to Him and trust in Him. We can look to God as our Protector, our strong Rock of defence, who is an ever-present help in trouble.