So Where Is God When Disaster Strikes? By Chris Foster The confusion that is caused by catastrophes and how it plays out in the minds of the spiritual is quite intriguing. In the wake of the 8.9 Earthquake and Tsunami that hit Japan that brought with it massive death and destruction, leaves some to wonder ?where was God?? or ?why did God let that happen?? Our TV?s have been filled with vivid images and news reports recounting the horror that befell the residents of Northern Japan Such `destruction is unfathomable from a loving God. Right? Recently I had coffee with a person who said that they would not step into a church because God let a Tornado kill her 13 year old cousin. It is obvious that events of this nature can make or break your faith. In the end, how can such events be justified? Catastrophes confirm for me the God within theology that Unity teaches, yet in the (See GOD page 2) (GOD ..from page 1) midst of tragedy, many of Unity?s prized students will hitch their thoughts to that good ole? time religion wagon that portrays God as that man in a white beard selective raining down blessings or death and destruction?.. Okay, so maybe they have gotten past the white beard, but the point being is that a perception in an external source still seems to trip up the best metaphysical students in the wake of tragedy. The truth (as I see and believe it) is that there is no God OUT THERE directing ANYTHING! That goes for all things. The good, bad or the ugly. (whistle here) God is that expression in each one of us. God is the essence of our being but is not our being. God is not dancing around in the physical world playing favorites. This is hard for us to always understand and ?get? because we relate so heavily to our physical being. To further confuse the matter, we see manifestations of God all around us but God is NOT those manifestations. God is not the paint on the canvas but rather the power that guides the brush. God is not the fingers playing the concerto but the wisdom that guides their every move and the love that allows our ears to hear it. In my humble attempt to explain the tragedy and why GOD would ALLOW such a thing, I recognize that the physical universe is a manifestation of God but it is not God. Every physical manifestation is filled with God energy that expresses randomly by the rules of physics. With this understanding we see how the physical universe aligns with spirit. Order and Chaos are random. There is no rhyme or reason to them. Yet without them, life would not exist. A river that does not have a steady flow, dies. A sea that does not roll can?t sustain sea life. A forest that doesn?t burn or decay will eventually die. The earthquake and tsunami have occurred to establish whatever balance in nature that was needed. We don?t know what that is. We tend to only see things from a limited ?human? perspective and since God expresses through all things, we can be left standing there scratching our heads trying to figure things out with an incomplete equation. God IS expressing in this tragedy through the love that is poured out from the thousands of volunteers that are reaching out to help their brothers and sisters. That compassion expressed IS God. God is that abundant energy flowing to Japan in the form of relief dollars that will go to supply needs to all affected. God IS always present. We just have to know what to look for.