Act of God

When I was sixteen I spent two weeks at Bark Lake, the Ontario leadership camp. While out on a bog walk lightning struck and a young person in the group behind us was zapped, probably indirectly. For a brief, terrifying time she was paralyzed but after an overnight stay in hospital she was back at the camp.

This year the Hot Docs documentary film festival in Toronto will open with a film called Act of God, which is about people who have been struck by lightning. The film explores the metaphysical effects of surviving a lightning strike. Many individuals feel that their lives have been changed by being struck, and some feel that that they have been spared by God for other purposes.

What an interesting approach. Most of us hope that our lives actually mean something, that we are more than ants scurrying around the face of the planet for a brief time. The reports of the unfortunate people whose lives are snuffed out in a car accident or in a catastrophic "act of God" such as a tsunami or earthquake cause us to ask whether there is a loving God who "sees the little sparrow fall."

I cringe when someone suggests that a child who has died has been taken to be with the angels, or that God needs the person whose life has come to an end in heaven. I can't imagine God being that arbitrary. We all die and often our deaths don't appear to make much sense or to have a greater purpose.

Any thoughts on acts of God?