As February moved into its first full week, most parts of the world reported weather milder than normal. The Southeast is enjoying bright sunshine, weather in the upper 50s, even into the 60s. However, the bitter cold and snow continue to harass the Northeast and parts of the Midwest.

February 8, 2001, was a delightful day in North Carolina, and that old nemeses, “spring fever,” was playing its role in the lives of students and workers across the state. Everywhere people were thinking about getting out to play their games in order to enjoy the gradual signs of spring reawakening. Many were just wistfully looking out the window dreaming of the first opportunity they will have to get out and relax.

February 8, 2001, in India is not a day filled with such warm and comfortable feelings. The worst earthquake in 50 years has shaken the basic fiber of the nation. More than 30,000 people already have lost their lives, and the death toll continues to mount. In the earthquake-ravaged areas, looting abounds to further complicate the day-to-day living as disease and death are everywhere. Because of the tremors, many of the main roads were closed and the scarce equipment was unable to make its way to the areas that needed immediate relief provided only by heavy equipment.

It is interesting to note that the areas of India hit by the earthquake are very much like North Carolina. From a commercial standpoint, farming, information technology and textiles are important activities, just as they are in our state. Imagine what North Carolina would be like should five hydrogen bombs be dropped in the center of the state, say Greensboro! That is what India is experiencing on February 8, 2001.

It is not at all unlike what happened 251 years ago, February 8, 1750. According to historians a strong earthquake hit London that day. Charles Wesley writes in his diary, “Such distress, perhaps, is not recorded to have happened before in this careless city.” Soon after that earthquake of February 8, 1750, Charles published a volume called Hymns Occasion'd by the Earthquake. One typical verse reads:

Tremendous Lord of Earth and Skies,
Most holy, high, and just,
We fall before Thy glorious eyes,
And hide us in the Dust:
Thine Anger's long suspended Stroke
With deepest Awe we feel,
And tremble on, so lately shook
Over the Mouth of Hell.

As we read about the efforts to recover from the destruction of this earthquake in India, Charles Wesley reminds us again of God's mighty power.