The Christchurch earthquake continues to affect all of our little country of New Zealand,
even with Japan on our hearts so much now.
We keep meeting people that have moved up to Tauranga from Christchurch,
making it out of the city sometimes just with their lives and a few belongings.
We've had the privilege of hosting a young couple -
earthquake refugees, as we lovingly call them.
They are friends from Germany and Switzerland that were on a 3-month tour of New Zealand. They "just" wanted to stroll the streets of Christchurch for an hour and were inside the cathedral when the earthquake struck.
They were able to get out with minor injuries.
Part of their story really touched me:
They wanted to go up the tower, as most tourists do.
But because they were frugal and didn't want to spend the money it cost to go up, there lives were saved!
Because 60 seconds after they were going to go up, the tower was no more!
They could have cheated and gone up the tower without paying, as somebody that was just coming down left the door open.
But because they were honest (and they WERE tempted to cheat - but didn't), they are still alive today!
WHEW!!!
Teaching my children to be frugal - and honest - has just taken on another whole dimension for me!
I'm not saying that you should never spend $7 to do sightseeing, but in this case, they definitely did the right thing!
You can see the cathedral in the beginning of this short video clip.
It was AMAZING that NOT.ONE.SINGLE.PERSON was found dead in the rubble of the cathedral - even though there were 20-30 people inside at the time of the quake!
There are a lot of other stories of people surviving miraculously ~ ~ ~
We are grateful that no more than about 200 people died - it definitely could have been a LOT more! And our love and prayers go out to those who did loose loved ones...
even with Japan on our hearts so much now.
We keep meeting people that have moved up to Tauranga from Christchurch,
making it out of the city sometimes just with their lives and a few belongings.
We've had the privilege of hosting a young couple -
earthquake refugees, as we lovingly call them.
They are friends from Germany and Switzerland that were on a 3-month tour of New Zealand. They "just" wanted to stroll the streets of Christchurch for an hour and were inside the cathedral when the earthquake struck.
They were able to get out with minor injuries.
Part of their story really touched me:
They wanted to go up the tower, as most tourists do.
But because they were frugal and didn't want to spend the money it cost to go up, there lives were saved!
Because 60 seconds after they were going to go up, the tower was no more!
They could have cheated and gone up the tower without paying, as somebody that was just coming down left the door open.
But because they were honest (and they WERE tempted to cheat - but didn't), they are still alive today!
WHEW!!!
Teaching my children to be frugal - and honest - has just taken on another whole dimension for me!
I'm not saying that you should never spend $7 to do sightseeing, but in this case, they definitely did the right thing!
You can see the cathedral in the beginning of this short video clip.
It was AMAZING that NOT.ONE.SINGLE.PERSON was found dead in the rubble of the cathedral - even though there were 20-30 people inside at the time of the quake!
There are a lot of other stories of people surviving miraculously ~ ~ ~
We are grateful that no more than about 200 people died - it definitely could have been a LOT more! And our love and prayers go out to those who did loose loved ones...
No comments:
Post a Comment