The Earthquake

Last night Justin and I had one of the weirdest moments in our parenting experience. The girls were asleep, so we thought, and I was doing dishes. Kalena was in our bed and I heard her come out of our room. She stood in the hall way. I told her to go get back in bed because it's "night night" time. I went back to doing dishes, wondering if she was going to obey me, when I heard her start crying. It wasn't just the normal "i don't want to go to bed" whine like she does occasionally, it was a real cry. Justin and I both went to her and he picked her up and we asked what was wrong. She just cried and said "something bad is going to happen" over and over again. Justin and I looked curiously at each other and didn't quite know what to do. We asked her what was going to happen along with other questions to try to figure out what was going on and what she was scared of. We didn't get anywhere, none of her answers made sense to us. We went back in our bedroom and asked her if she was scared of different things in the room. She answered yes when we asked if she was scared of the clock that was slightly lit, so we turned it off. Several times she has heard the alarm on the clock go off and that has scared her, so that's what we figured it was. We both laid down with her for a few minuets on the bed. Just then the entire room began to shake. Justin and I braced, and as it continued we took Kalena and went towards Sara's room. It only lasted about 10 seconds. It wasn't really big enough for Kalena to even realize what was going on, but the lamp on the dresser was swaying and we heard several car alarms. After it was over Justin and I laughed at the weird coincidence of the situation. We joked about Kalena being able to tell the future or having special mutant powers. However, we believe that what God has written in the Bible is the only way to know anything about the future, and this was just a very weird coincidence.

It made me ponder for the rest of the night about what we do know about the future and about how Jesus will one day return. We do have specifics on the disastrous fate of our planet and the people separated from Jesus Christ. How often I fail to warn those around me of the future which will be coming soon, probably sooner than we think. Justin had a professor during seminary who was teaching on the end times. This professor, after all his extensive research on the "end times" said... "I am confident that while I may not live to see the rapture... but most of you in this room will. (pointing around to all the younger men) This thought humbles me, challenges me, and gives me a burning desire to more diligently serve the Lord with extreme sacrifice.

It turns out it was a 4.7 earthquake in Santa Monica, just big enough for us to feel in N. Hollywood. There were only reports of minor damage and injuries. Kalena slept soundly in her bed for the rest of the night.