where is God?

With all the news coverage about the oil spill (at our office, we're lucky enough to have CNN on ALL DAY, which is torture on a sensitive soul like me), if you are anything like me, you've wondered:

Where is God in all this?

I'm pretty sure God is here, in the muck, yuck, and utter disaster of a situation.

I'm pretty sure that He has a plan about this; that He is in control.

But, in the midst of this turbulent (and in my opinion, sad) time, as desperate as I want to see miracles and want Him to stop it now, I think there is a lesson in all this.

During my morning reading this week, I came across a sentence that resonated with me:

'He has never forced us to choose Him...'
(Max Lucado, Grace for the Moment)

And, in the midst of all the crazy, irate, over the top blame game that seems to take up all the problem solving energy, as opposed, to say, actually solving the problem, I think God was there during the moment they decided to go ahead without the back up plan.

But, to Max's point, I don't think God forced His will; (after all, He made us with free will) but, I do think that He was probably a whisper of conscious in someone's ear, some person who made the decision to go ahead, anyway, regardless to thought about consequences.

And so, as much as I want this to stop, I think God is teaching us a lesson about His power. And the abuse of ours.