I’ve had people ask me why I stay in California with the looming threat of earthquakes. I usually tell them that I would rather be rocked and rolled by an earthquake than go through a hurricane or tornado. An earthquake can shake you up, and we have plenty of faults in California that do just that. (Something to ponder.) We have 500 faults in California, more than 200 in Southern California. All are active and sliding between the Pacific and Northwest tectonic plates. The most famous fault is the San Andreas. The common myth is that half of California will one day drop into the sea. (Some would probably celebrate the loss of the “left coast”.)
Rick and I live near the Rodgers Creek Fault that runs from the San Pablo Bay through Petaluma and up the center of Santa Rosa. The Healdsburg and Maacama Fault is just north of us and runs from Cloverdale, along Highway 101 through Windsor and parts of Santa Rosa. The truth is every Californian lives within 30 miles of a fault, some closer, some much closer. That’s probably why we have so many regulations about where and how to build a house or business building.
But you should know there are also active faults in Hawaii, Alaska, central, southern and eastern states. In fact, there are faults all over the world. Earthquakes can be terrifying, yes, but they can also be beneficial.
Earthquakes are part of earth’s design. In God’s creation, everything has a reason. Without earthquakes, the Earth would be a smooth ball in space, wind, rain and waves eroding away mountain ranges. Imagine a world without the Sierra-Nevadas, the Rockies, the Alps, the Himalayas. Earthquakes crack the crust beneath the oceans and maintain carbon dioxide levels that warm and cool the earth, and change the course of groundwater creating wetlands and new estuaries flowing into the ocean. Without earthquakes, our planet would not be as beautiful as it is, nor would it sustain life.
God knows things must be shaken up on occasion to refresh and renew life. Destruction happens. The planet and lives are reshaped. We can become complacent, spending days, months and years letting the winds, rain, and waves of life wear us down. Sometimes it takes something catastrophic to wake us up, bring us to rock bottom in a chasm where we fall on our knees and acknowledge and beseech the Creator for mercy. Earthquakes remind us of a power beyond ourselves, a power we cannot control, a power filled with love.
Just as God uses earthquakes to maintain this magnificent life-sustaining planet, He can use the earthquakes in our lives to bring forth something beautiful.