Tsunami Relief - Amazing Survival Stories

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“Don’t let go of me, Mummy!” cried five-year-old
Lachie Searle. He was lounging pool side at a resort
in Phuket, Thailand, with his mom, Jillian, and little
brother when the tsunami hit. With the water surging
around her, Jillian could not hold both her boys
and faced a heartbreaking choice usually reserved
for hypothetical situations described in high school
ethics classes. She decided to release Lachie, striving
to save at least one of her children and hoping that the
older boy had a better chance of survival. Tossed along
by the current, Lachie grabbed a still-standing lobby
door. Two hours later, he was discovered by a security
guard who carried him to safety. Reunited with his
parents and brother, Lachie became one of countless
amazing stories of survival amidst the death and
devastation caused by the tsunami that hit South
Asia on the day after Christmas.

Another story is about 3-year-old Diew Silao who
survived alone in a mangrove tree for three days.
Swept from his mother’s arms and propelled to
a forest, the boy climbed to the highest tree branch
and waited. Three days later, a police officer grimly
gathering up corpses entangled in the trees looked
up and found the child. Diew was not the only re-
markable survivor in the family. His father, a fisher-
man, was at sea fishing when the maelstrom hit.
His boat capsized but he was able to swim for
five hours, finally reaching shore. Today, a woman
who thought she lost her son and husband has
had her family returned to her whole.

Anthony Praveen, an 8-year-old from Velankanni,
in southern India, also had a remarkable experience.
As gravediggers prepared to bury a mountain of
corpses, the boy sat up from the midst of the bodies,
opened his eyes, and was saved from being buried alive.

British vacationer Martin Hambrook was floating
in the warm waters off the Sri Lankan coast waiting
for the perfect wave when the largest one he ever
saw began to approach. With the surfboard tied
to his ankle, Hambrook had no choice but to ride
the biggest wave of his life. Using all his skill as a
surfer, he pointed his board towards his beach-
front hotel, found his family, and carried them to
higher ground before the second more powerful
wave hit the beach.

As I flew to Dallas last week, I sat next to a pilot
making her way back home. Of course, we dis-
cussed the tsunami and its relationship to God.
Although she believed in God, she wanted to
know if God cared or even knew who lived
or who died. “Wasn’t it all random?” she asked.

No, I answered, not a sparrow falls without
God’s knowledge or concern. He grants life
as He sees fit and takes it in his time. That is
why despite the 150,000 dead, millions sur-
vived, and most through amazing circumstances.
This is what God told the Israelites through
Moses in Deut 32:39: “See now that I, I am
He, and there is no god besides Me; It is I
who put to death and give life…. And there
is no one who can deliver from My hand.”
And that is why Moses asked God in Psalm
90:12 to “teach us to number our days.”

Life can seem so random. Some, like little
Lachie Searle or Diew Silao survive in what
appear to be impossible circumstances, while
others do not.

I don’t presume to understand God or why
He chooses as He does. But if we didn’t trust
in the sovereign power of a good and kind
God, we just might become paralyzed with
fear, not wishing to step into the street, or
drive to the store, or fly on a plane, or even
let our children outside to play. But God
alone is the One who gives life or takes it,
and we can trust Him to protect us until He
calls us home. And we need to live so we
are ready for that possibility every day.
Michael Rydelnik