Acts 7:36, Tsunami and Exodus

Stephen as he recounts the history of the Israelites in his last sermon notes that God “led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.” This recalls the wonders and signs, inter alia, in Exodus 14:21-29. The tragic event, just days ago in Southeast Asia, when a tsunami wrecked horrible havoc and caused the loss of innumerable lives, also recalls other similar tsunami related events. In particular, the eruption of Thera (Santorini) may have caused a tsunami that pushed back the Red Sea.

Why bad things happen to good people is something beyond my ability to explain. Fortunately good people everywhere are being extremely generous in their individual and collective responses to the most devastating tsunami in history.

Support tsunami relief efforts

For your convenience, here are addresses of two excellent organizations for making donations in support of the relief efforts in South Asia:


ELCA International Disaster Response
PO Box 71764
Chicago, IL 60694-1764
Online credit card donations can be made at:
www.elca.org/scriptlib/dcm/giving/idisaster.asp


Lutheran World Relief
South Asia Tsunami/Wave of Giving
PO Box 17061
Baltimore, MD 21298-9832
Telephone credit card donations: 800-LWR-LWR-2 (800-597-5972)
Online credit card donations can be made at:
www.lwr.org/

Luke uses the phrase “wonders and signs” and also “signs and wonders” more frequently than any other NT writer. But I need to return to this subject on another day.