The devastation in Haiti has touched us all. Being impacted my such tragedy is something we cannot escape in this age. The poverty of Haiti is horrendous. And yet, the reports kept coming in from cell phones beneath the rubble.

Almost immediately the world was made aware. Pictures were uploaded to the World Wide Web in seconds following the beginning of the tremors. Before the dust had settled the twenty-four hour cable news channels were streaming the images of buildings collapsing from the moving earth, some pancaking down floor upon floor. Within minutes the pictures of startled, unbelieving, shocked residents of the island stared into the lens we, in our comfort, beheld from thousands of miles away. Within hours the scope of the catastrophe held the concerned around the globe spellbound.

And then came the images of the wounded, of agonized faces bemoaning the dead; the catatonic walking about fragments of humans, with anguished looks of shocked realization, totally lost, alone, the only ones left in whole families of the improvised not flung downward to the bottom of the graph of the barely surviving.

Tons of concrete and rebar lifted from atop the barely audile cries for help, allowed hope that others would soon be reached. Days stretched upon day, after shock followed after shock, and as the possibility of rescue dimmed even more, another miracle would rekindle the light of hope. Rescue dogs sniffed; volunteers called out then paused to listen in fervent hope the desperate would answer. Sometimes, rarely, but sometimes they did and the television transported the miracle into our homes where we marveled at the enduring human desire to survive.

For some the tragedy struck close to home. United Methodist mourned the loss of the leader of their internal relief team. He was in one of those pancaked buildings. Another executive and a missionary were killed.

The money to help began to pour in. Who could have imagined we’d be able to “text” a contribution with but a minimum of effort? Who could have envisioned the torrent of outpoured emotion that uplifted the victims? Who would have envision the way this world has been made smaller and human kind would feel suddenly a kinship never thought of before?

Haiti will never be forgotten by those of us sensitive enough to care, and that encompasses most of us. The kids at my church gave up an evening to put together “Health Kits” of basic sanitation needs that were immediately shipped to Haiti. Have you ever thought of how precious a bar of soap in Haiti is these days?

Of all the images emanating from Haiti one sticks in my mind. The video showed the streets of Port-au-Prince, with the collapsed buildings, the bodies along the street, the dirty shirt of the reporter, all of which combined to highlight the enormous challenge facing these people. The basic needs of modern society, water and power had been disrupted. Everyone, was without power. Almost.

There behind the reporter a street light shown forth, casting its glow about the rubble and making eerie  shadows about the demolished civilization. And yet, in the midst of all the loss of necessities this street lamp gave forth light. Atop the pole one could see the solar panel. The creation of God had shook the city to the ground. And yet, the creation of God still shown forth, bring power and possibility to the impossible and powerless.