As I sat in my office on Cashel Street finishing the paperwork for closing a case, I wondered which route I should take for my usual lunchtime walk. I was five minutes away from going into the filing room, located underneath the stairs to the second floor. A room that we only ventured into when we were filing a closed case. The room was barely a room, tiny and filled with filing cabinets from floor to ceiling. I was 10 minutes away from walking down Manchester and Cashel Street for my usual lunchtime walk. I was exactly 48hrs away from being in a food court a stone’s throw from the Christchurch Cathedral.
A close friend, who I was due to meet for lunch in 48hrs, was at her desk on Colombo Street. My mum was with a friend in Cashel Mall having lunch which she had got from the Trocadero Bakery a few minutes earlier. They sat on a wooden park bench in the middle of Cashel Mall. Normally they would sit to the side, under the facades of the buildings.
It was 12.50pm on the 22nd February 2011.
In that moment we did not know that we were right where God had perfectly positioned us to be, positioned for protection for what was about to come. Then the clock ticked over to 12.51pm. Less than 400m from where I cowered under my desk the CTV Building was collapsing, killing and trapping many. Less than 100m from where my friend hid under her desk, initially trapped under it due to fallen cabinets, facades were crumbling onto the pavement and onto buses below, killing eight people. Barely metres from where my mum and her friend knelt holding onto the park bench, people were being crushed by falling facades and debris. The bakery she had bought her lunch from was ripping apart.
As this year’s anniversary looms I find myself wondering why, why were we spared from physical harm and death when so many in such close proximity to us were not.
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At the start of every year I ask God for a word for the year. This year I got the word ‘protection’. This word has made me think differently about the earthquake anniversary. While in the past I have recognised God’s protection on that day, I never truly saw the pieces of the puzzle from that day that lead me, my close friend and my mum to be exactly where we were at 12.51pm. While the three of us saw the devastation of the city centre first-hand, including seeing battered and bloodied people, we were protected from far greater sorrow.
God has a plan for us all. I believe that when evil and disaster come knocking, if it is not our time to join him in heaven, he will protect us. There will be times when we see his hand of protection, like in the stories above. But there will also be times his hand goes unseen. This year I give thanks for his protection, especially for the times I do not know that he has protected me. For I believe if I knew all the times he had done this, I would fear going out my front door.
I don’t know why God protected me that day and not countless others. But I know he uses everything for good not matter how dark it might look. The same is for what you have gone through. This is my story, my testimony of God perfectly positioning me for protection. He has a plan for you and me to prosper and not to come to harm (Jeremiah 29:11). Weapons will be fashioned and aimed towards us, but they will never prosper because of God’s protection. Take heart in that!
A close friend, who I was due to meet for lunch in 48hrs, was at her desk on Colombo Street. My mum was with a friend in Cashel Mall having lunch which she had got from the Trocadero Bakery a few minutes earlier. They sat on a wooden park bench in the middle of Cashel Mall. Normally they would sit to the side, under the facades of the buildings.
It was 12.50pm on the 22nd February 2011.
In that moment we did not know that we were right where God had perfectly positioned us to be, positioned for protection for what was about to come. Then the clock ticked over to 12.51pm. Less than 400m from where I cowered under my desk the CTV Building was collapsing, killing and trapping many. Less than 100m from where my friend hid under her desk, initially trapped under it due to fallen cabinets, facades were crumbling onto the pavement and onto buses below, killing eight people. Barely metres from where my mum and her friend knelt holding onto the park bench, people were being crushed by falling facades and debris. The bakery she had bought her lunch from was ripping apart.
As this year’s anniversary looms I find myself wondering why, why were we spared from physical harm and death when so many in such close proximity to us were not.
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At the start of every year I ask God for a word for the year. This year I got the word ‘protection’. This word has made me think differently about the earthquake anniversary. While in the past I have recognised God’s protection on that day, I never truly saw the pieces of the puzzle from that day that lead me, my close friend and my mum to be exactly where we were at 12.51pm. While the three of us saw the devastation of the city centre first-hand, including seeing battered and bloodied people, we were protected from far greater sorrow.
God has a plan for us all. I believe that when evil and disaster come knocking, if it is not our time to join him in heaven, he will protect us. There will be times when we see his hand of protection, like in the stories above. But there will also be times his hand goes unseen. This year I give thanks for his protection, especially for the times I do not know that he has protected me. For I believe if I knew all the times he had done this, I would fear going out my front door.
I don’t know why God protected me that day and not countless others. But I know he uses everything for good not matter how dark it might look. The same is for what you have gone through. This is my story, my testimony of God perfectly positioning me for protection. He has a plan for you and me to prosper and not to come to harm (Jeremiah 29:11). Weapons will be fashioned and aimed towards us, but they will never prosper because of God’s protection. Take heart in that!