God is Faithful

This brought tears into my eyes.

In the country of Armenia, in 1988, Samuel and Danielle sent their son off to school. Samuel squatted before his son and looked at him in the eye, “Have a good day in school and remember, no matter what, I’ll always be there for you”. They hugged and the boy ran off to school.

Hours later, a powerful earthquake rocked the area. In the midst of the pandemonium, Samuel and Danielle agonised over what might have happened to their son, but they could not get any information. The radio announced that there were thousands of casualties. Samuel then grabbed his coat and headed to the school yard. When he reached the area, what he saw brought tears to his eyes, Armand’s school was a pile of debris. Other parents were standing and crying.

Samuel found the place where Armand’s class used to be and began pulling a broken beam off the pile of rubble. He then grabbed a rock and put it to the side and then grabbed another one. One of the parents looking on asked, “What are you doing?”. “Digging for my son”, Samuel answered. The man then said, “You’re just going to make matters worse. The building is unstable” and tried to pull Samuel away from his work. Samuel just kept on working. As the time wore on, one by one, the other parents left. Then a worker tried to pull Samuel away from the rubble. Samuel looked at him and said, “Won’t you help me?”. The worker left and Samuel kept on digging.

All through the night and into the next day, Samuel continued digging. Parents placed flowers and pictures of their children on the ruins, but Samuel kept on working. He picked up a beam and pushed it out of the way when he heard a faint cry, “Help! Help!” Samuel listened, but didn’t hear anything again. Then he heard a muffled voice, “Papa!”

Samuel began to dig furiously, he could see his son. “Come out son”, he said with relief.

“No”, Armand said, “Let the other kids come out first because I know you'll get me”. Child after child emerged until finally, little Armand slid out. Samuel took him up into his arms and Armand said, “I told the other kids not to worry because you told me that you’ll always be there for me!”

Fourteen children were saved that day because one parent was faithful. How much more is our God Almighty? Whether trapped by fallen debris or ensnared by life’s hardships and struggles, we are never cut off from God’s faithfulness. He is true to His character. He is reliable and trustworthy and can always be counted on. As Christians, let us keep trusting God to the end.

Bro Isaiah Odiwuor Awino (S Nyanza, Kenya)