NO MATTER WHAT THE FATHER WILL BE THERE

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

(Yesterday I posted a review for IF GOD IS GOOD--Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil by Randy Alcorn. Since human suffering and the goodness of God is of such interest I want to keep attention on that book by posting something from it again today.)

In 1988, an Armenian earthquake killed forty-five thousand. In the chaos, one man made his way to his son's school, only to find nothing but rubble. Other parents stumbled around dazed and weeping, calling out their children's names. But this father ran to the back corner of the building where his son's classroom once was, and began digging.

To everyone else, it seemed hopeless. How could his son have survived? But this father had promised he would always be there for his boy, so he heaved rocks and dug, calling for his son by name: "Armand!"

Well-meaning parents and bystanders tried to pull him out of the rubble. "It's too late!" "they're dead!" "There's nothing you can do!" The fire chief tried to pull him away saying, "Fires and explosions are happening everywhere. You're in danger. Go home!" Finally, the police came and said, "You're in shock. You're endangering others. Go home. We'll handle it!"

But the man continued to dig, hour after hour---eight hours, then twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six hours. Finally, in the thirty-eighth hour of digging---a day and a half after everyone told him to give up hope---he called his son's name again, pulled back a big rock, and heard his son's voice.

"Armand!" the father screamed.

From under the rocks came the words, "Dad? I told them! I told the other kids that if you were still alive, you'd save me!"

The father helped his son and thirteen other children climb out of the rubble. When the building had collapsed, the children survived in a tentlike pocket. The father lovingly carried his son home to his mother. When the townspeople praised Armand's father for saving the children, he simply explained, "I promised my son, 'No matter what, I'll be there for you!"