THE POWER

The Chile earthquake was a magnitude of 8.8 on the Richter scale.   It moved an entire city ten feet. I started to think about what an earthquake like that means in terms of energy.  The Richter magnitude scale uses some big math to assign a single number to quantify the amount of seismic energy released by an earthquake.  Taking one more step, it is possible for some really brainy people (I’m not one of them) to figure out how much TNT or Dynamite it would take to equal the energy released in an earthquake.

The Haitian earthquake, a magnitude 7.0 was equivalent to about 33.6 million tons of TNT.  On the same scale, the quake in Chile was the approximate equivalent of 15.8 BILLION tons of TNT or about 470 times as powerful as the Haiti Earthquake. That is a release of energy simply beyond my comprehension. 

Though much less powerful, the earthquake in Haiti was far more devastating because of the vast number of people involved.  The devastation was astounding. 

THE VOICE

Then, in Haiti, exactly one month after the earthquake and the same day the Olympics began in Vancouver, another unusual event happened.  A voice from an unexpected place spoke to those whose lives had been shaken.  It became a voice of far greater magnitude than the earthquakes.
 
Watch this short video to see what I am talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30rWm84z-zg

It was just one voice calling a people to prayer.  A million people showed up.  Because of that one voice 3000 new believers now walk with Jesus.  And it has broken down strongholds of the voodoo religion.  God wasn’t in the quake but His still, small voice spoke.
 
There is no force on this planet great enough to move a single soul into eternity or speak lasting peace into struggling heart.  Yet God would use our voices to release the power of his love that can.  One voice calling people whose lives had been shaken to the ground changed eternity for many.    One voice inviting people to God. 

THE SHAKEN

There are people everywhere, ourselves included, whose lives have been shaken and are shaking still from divorce, addictions, cancer, disease, accidents, death, homelessness, joblessness, and economic devastation…the list is endless but it’s real; as real as an earthquake.
 
As a follower of Jesus Christ have you ever doubted your voice?  Have you ever doubted the quiet whisper of God’s voice compelling you to speak?  Have you ever doubted God’s strength to speak into the shaken places of people lives even your own life?  I have.  And it breaks my heart. It seems I too often doubt the voice that speaks life and peace into struggle.
 
Hebrews 12:25-29 reminds us that everything will be shaken so that [only] what cannot be shaken will remain…God’s unshakable Kingdom.  Need we be reminded that that Kingdom is within us?

This is our mission…as a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into a wonderful light…to proclaim freedom for the captives, give water to the thirsty, food to the hungry, clothes to the naked, and time to those still imprisoned…to allow God to use our gentle voice to speak into shaken places.

We are called to be a voice inviting the shaken to the Unshakeable One.