This also made me think about what would’ve happened if we stayed in Puerto Rico, if all these months of anxious waiting wouldn’t run. My dad’s not unemployed; he took an unpaid yearly leave from Hacienda. What would’ve happened if we stayed? Would he be fired? It’s a big stake in my heart, a big worry for my compatriots. This is not a joke: fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, grandmothers, grandfathers, workers, janitors… This is a big overhaul for Puerto Rico. Is this what’s happening: is the Island of Enchantment disintegrating to my very eye?
How am I here, gorging a pizza and cheesecake, while many people back there are crying and striking to their very lungs? Is it a huge trick-of-fate that God’s playing with us? I can imagine the despair many feel at these moments. It’s a huge disappointment.
By no means have I pretended to use this as an excuse to display “superiority” or laugh out at their misery. It is also affecting for me, a fellow compatriot. But I still ponder: Did God let us escape? What will happen in Puerto Rico? Will God’s grace cover us all? Yes, I do believe. In the midst of all chaos and craziness, God can use this as means of fixing our eyes at Him, and realizing that He is the only thing that floats around our lives.
If the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us, when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. (Psalm 88:2-5,NIV)