Good in the Rubble. Blessings from the Oso Landslide

I am from Arlington, Washington.

The small city, now on the map due to the landslide here in Oso.

And when we think of disaster and travesties, we think about them in other places, not home. For we as people are good at separating, compartmentalizing, dividing our spirits from those things that hurt us.

We want to survive.  And yet we think survival requires our detaching from anything negative that might pain us.

But many can’t detach tonight.  It’s 3:00 a.m. and the consensus from my Facebook friends is that a lot of us haven’t been sleeping.

We have been seeing the people in the stories we have been hearing; Like those walking around in blood, girls trapped underground nearby, screaming.  We see hands lifted waving in mud, bodies engulfed completely, like white flags begging for someone to free them.  One already lost, trying to rescue them.

And it is one thing to see suffering, it is quite another to have to stand by watching, completely powerless to do anything to help those near us.

It’s a humbling reality, the day any of us come smack dab against the truth that none of us can ever really be saviors.  All we can do is watch and pray.  Lie painfully awake in these days of taunting rain, slowly counting with the coroner, those gone forever, as predicted.

  • The babies body recently found.
  • The Navy man whose mother died from cancer only a few years ago.
  • The Christian couple who did counseling and moved to Oso to build their dream house.
  • The wife lost in the mud, whose husband dug himself out with a piece of his recliner.  A man determined to live, a life instinctively resistant, so much so that his fight got him out.

And yet, where is the fight in us when bad things happen?

For us, here in Arlington, the people you see on the evening news aren’t just statistics; they are neighbors, friends, people we know, those we see at the small local Fourth of July parade each year.  These are librarians, people who work in our schools and churches.  It is the child whose desk is now empty next to our daughters and sons in our elementary schools.

And no counseling can ever really fill the void of loss.  No words, or sympathy, or “good thoughts” can replace the cost of another human life.  We simply must grieve and go on, despite how it hurts.  And though time will lessen the sting (or so they say)…the loss of a soul will never be able to be replace.  The love we feel for those hurting, will likely never fully leave.  

Though none of us ever really die in spirit.  We know this because although pain fades, life is short and love truly is eternal.

But at the same time we all seem to be drowning in the mud of our own fears and insecurities.  We doubt God is still good, His hand still strong, His existence still high and lifted up above all circumstances…like a mudslide that instantly buried many.

And yet, the breath of God (Ruach Elohim) whether Christian of not, still exists in all of His creation according to Genesis.  And it is here the Spirit of the Lord warns, and calls, and cries, and allows things to happen that we simply don’t understand.

Yet, death is never God’s plan, it’s the result of the fall of Eve and Adam….but the Bible still teaches, “God sees”.  And seeing is not just what He does, but who He is, “El Roi”, translated from the Hebrew.

We know from scripture God is Sovereign…meaning regardless of sin, He still is high and lifted up and still reigns above principalities, powers, and rulers of this dark world.

And when sin, slips like mud into our living rooms…in the form of anger, hate, doubt, fear, regret, bitterness, or unforgiveness….we can all feel trapped, stuck in a system not allowing us to move.  And it is then, hands lift high and we recognize God alone must be the Savior we are seeking.

And I say this with greatest sensitivity, only because I have also heard the stories….

  • One drove out of Oso on 530 moments before, barely skipping the landslide and no one can explain why.
  • Two spontaneously stopped for coffee, coming home a little later than expected, saving them from being covered in mud. 
  • Others leave town in the nick of time, going to get groceries at Costco, their lives spared as they brushed close with death, while others weren’t quite so lucky.
  • Others do construction, and just so happened to enter the town to do some business at the time of its devastation. They were lost, never to be seen again.

And it all can seem unfair, haphazard, unplanned, un-dictated.  Random, if God does not exist, and life is just a crazy game of Russian roulette, where some have to die and others get to live.

A friend I love, we hadn’t heard from in days.  Finally we hear, her house was spared….the slide stopped less than two miles away from where she lives.  Everything she owns, her and all her family spared.

Why did she live and others die?  I do not know.  But I do know our God can be trusted, even when lives are lost, and we ache for those near and dearest to us.

Another barely missed the slide, a few cars away from being inhaled in mud because her husband called her back for a kiss….Oh the kiss of love that spares us from death. 

But friend, no matter how unjust and random all this blended mess of mud is, it is imperative that you get this…..None of this was coincidence.  God did not turn his back, close his eyes, or stomp his foot to make the cliff cave on dozens and dozens of people.

He loves people.  Remember, He created each of us. We were each made in His image. Even the ones who have so suddenly just recently left us.

Scripture tells us, He knows each of the hairs on our heads, He knows our first day to our last. He sees. He hears. He does not change His character when bad things happen.

And the good from the landslide?

  • A community independent, strong, self-sufficient is coming together as one.  These are pioneers, people who love nature, but also have adored the isolation that can sometimes come with living acres and acres away from each other.  I have an uncle who was a volunteer firefighter who lives in Darrington, a good friend who also lives in Oso.  And I guarantee, life, and family, and those close to them are more precious than than they ever were before.

And yet, when tragedy strikes, this quiet, small town community is the first to step up, step in, get messy, and face fear strong in the face.  They are resistant.  Resilient.  These are people who can get through anything.  And this season, they will have to lean on each other like never before to do that.

  • People all over the world are giving.  And what’s so beautiful is, this time we are not giving to get.  We are giving because our hearts are big, filled with love, and so much compassion for what’s happening in Oso.  And if tragedy must happen for us to get outside of ourselves, to stop being swallowed up in our own murkiness and self-centeredness that consumes our culture…then I count that as good.  For truth is, we are never more like Christ than when we give, sacrificially, unconditionally, selflessly….as Christ did.  

My seven year old is collecting pennies at her school, my teenager has been begging for canned goods for a food drive.  Eyes are turning outward, and even children are gathering to serve the families here in Oso.  People are donating their services, doing funerals for free, paying for the medical costs of the animals displaced.  People are giving supplies, and fields, and literally the coats off their backs to keep these families safe, warm, loved.

And in tragedy or not….Christ rejoices most when we choose to love so tangibly, compassionately, humbly, sacrificially.  

  • Lastly, the churches are gathering as one.  Walls have been broken. Community lines shattered.  There is no more denomination over denomination, or “my church is the only way, while yours somehow is sub-par to my religiosity”.  

Yes, God is alive.  He is drawing together congregations, believers and non-believers.  People are praying without ceasing.  Yes, He is moving in the hearts of His people.  Individuals are gathering in our park to hold late night candle light services. Churches are opening their once locked doors.  People are donating counseling services, cooking warm food, or just collectively having nightly services to honor those dead or still unheard from.

And my guess is, many of you around the country are doing the same.  For pain just has a way of drawing people together again, as one.

C.S. Lewis said once, “God whispers in our joy, but shouts in our pain.” And if that is true, maybe instead of fear, He wants us to turn to Him first and foremost in our hurting?

And who doesn’t need to hear from heaven when four-month-old babies, babysat by relatives is retrieved deep from mud?

Yes, God hasn’t forsaken us.  He hasn’t distanced us.  He hasn’t left our little town or the people who are grieving now through this crisis.

For even in trials, God is never more present than when we stop looking around us at differences, turn our eyes of criticism away from idiosyncrasies and just really start helping, loving, hugging, and gathering as one under the banner of love to seek and connect with a God that created us…

Trusting, God still holds the earth in His hands, despite what it looks like in Oso, Washington.

It’s 3:00 a.m. Yet, I wake this night not out of sorrow like I have in nights past.  I wake because I saw a family in a cave of mud, gripping together, arms wrapped tight as they take their last breathe in a mud insulated coffin.

A dream?  I don’t know.  All I remember is a bright light shining in the shrinking room they stood in.  No pain and suffering, but anticipation on the face of each of the individuals.  A Presence with them….as a peace prevailed unexplained by human logic or reason.

And from carnal eyes alone, you might think God has left us.  You might think we have sinned, or that God is not good or has abandoned a buried people during this hour of their transfiguration, their resurrection of the pain of this life into the very arms and presence of Jesus.

But friends let me tell you….in the middle of all that has been happening in Oso, Washington…He has never been so near.  For God has never left us in our hour of deepest suffering.  It is then when He draws most near.

So, I could grieve, and curl up, and ache for those who are lost and still missing (And I still will, as stories rise above the mud, and more intimate details of the loss and hurting continue to surface)….

But friends, I also have hope. I have hope knowing that slide did not miss the eyes of God.  God in all His covering was there among us as He carries us now through this desert of incomprehensible understanding.

He allowed every detail, He knew and was looking when some left seemingly spontaneously just before the mud scene, and others entered it unexpectedly, never to be seen again….

And if we see with macro lenses, eyes eternally, knowing heaven is better than this thing called life, a mere breathe to all of us anyway…our whole perspective will change.  And instead of cursing God, we can bow our heads willingly low, now in this hour, despite our suffering.

For truth is, none of us have promises of tomorrow, or God-like knowing that we too might not be here in a day, a week, a month from sitting here reading this.

But what we do know, what we can hold onto is that God is still good.  He is still sovereign and He still rules and reigns above the Universe.

God does not cause destruction, but He uses things like landslides to purify and refine us still left here, the ones suffering more than those who huddled in mud during their very last breathe as horrific as that may sound to us.

Yes, we’ll stay strong here in Arlington, not because of our comradery, or our strong wills, or our good work ethic…But because we have faith, we believe.  And we know, our communities neediness, our generosity, and our unity are gifts that have come at the costs of those we have seen suffering.

Will you please join me now in taking a few moments to pray for our community?  And together can we start thanking Him for those little gifts, found like treasures in the soil of your suffering?  

I have.  I am.  I will continue to.  Here.  Now.  At 3:00 a.m.  Though I should be sleeping.  Now while many in Oso are still awake, still painstakingly digging for their loved ones.

And though scripture tells us death has no sting, in real life things like mudslides will cause a level of grieving.  But still we can stand on the rock, trusting a God who never sleeps or slumbers.  His hand still Sovereign, even when the mud of our lives tries to blind us from the reality that…regardless of how it seems…

Good things do surface…even from mudslides, here in Oso.

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7 Comments

  1. I had no idea that you’re from Arlington. The Hubs and I started our married life in Marysville and he worked at the Bayliner boat factory in Arlington while attending Northwest College in Kirkland. Small world! The mudslide tragedy seems so unreal, like it couldn’t happen, and yet it did. Today more earthquakes rocked L.A. Creation is groaning.

  2. Jen- is might be the most power-filled post I have ever read from you, and your writing is always from, the heart; deep and thought provoking. It’s as if you have touched the heart of God and have writtien from His perspective- He has certainly been revealing things to you through this long and hard night. Even though I am half a world away we have watched this horror unfold on our screens too, but nothing has moved me as much as this piece from you.
    May God use you mightily to teach, encourage, comfort and support people through this trajedy.
    I pray that God will guard your heart and mind with His incredible peace so that you can be a vehicle of His love to the hurting in your community.
    Much love,always,Mary,

  3. Elizabeth – Ha yes! What a crazy small world! 🙂 We live so close to the factory & totally love Northwest University! How cool is that, that your from here!

    Mary – Your words always unbelievably kind friend! Yes, in one night God changed my perspective completely….from sorrow to a deep faith, trust, and understanding of His omnipresence and sovereignty over us! Thank you richly for your continued prayers for our community! Lots of love to you, Jen

  4. This is one of the best posts I’ve read on the slide. I was in the area yesterday and am amazed at just how much the 530 community is doing to help their friends and neighbors– and total strangers. It’s awesome, and you echoed something one of the volunteers at the Oso Chapel said to me– that people are rightfully praying for miracles, but miracles have already happened too, including in these stories of people being delayed or cancelling events. God is good.

  5. I’m sorry for your losses. There is so much to be thankful for in this post but also so much to be grieved over. I find that much of what I struggle with about life is wrapped up in this in this article. God’s sovereignty–over all. I’m trying to let go of the control I want and yield to this reality. Blessings to you as you step into truly having to live out your faith in this truth at a time such as this. Prayers for your community…

  6. So glad to read your perspective and your faith and hope is very encouraging. We will continue to pray for you and your people.

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