A huge chunk of a glacier detached and raced down the mountain

No one ever knows what could possibly happen in our lives. We can have enormously happy and busy lives, and then all of a sudden things can change dramatically.

In the Nepal landslide disaster, 1287 lives were lost in total, and 5000 remain unaccounted for, including 41 Australians; also, 12,000 people have been rescued by emergency response teams. The mountain is on the border between Nepal and Tibet. In Tibet, 21 of their people have been killed, and 540 more people are missing across the border. 

It was just past 8am on the morning of 26th August 2026 when a huge chunk of a glacier detached and raced down the mountain for at least 1 kilometer. As it raced down, it began to melt, and huge amounts of water accumulated, adding to the volume as it then raced down the mountainside for 168 kilometers.

The disaster occurred right on the Nepal-Tibet border. It's a small river, the Lend Cola, on the border that flows into a larger river, the Bote Koshi, at a place called Rasuagardi. There are only two road crossings between Nepal and China, so there are a lot of people there.

The border between the two countries is a really busy place: border security, trucks coming and going, people everywhere, police and Nepali soldiers at the checkpoint between the two places. We can only imagine what happened. It was a total disaster. As the water rushed down the huge mountainside, it accumulated tons and tons of mud, earth, vegetation, and as it neared the crossings and the cities, it just got faster and faster and hugely heavier.

In Nepal, there were hundreds of workers building hydroelectric dams up and down the entire place - huge jobs and hundreds of workers, and also so many people living and working there. There were hundreds of people there,  Chinese, Nepali, South Koreans, and many pilgrims as well. It is the overland route towards Mount Kyash, where lots of people worship Hinduism and Buddhism. Several hundred pilgrims were on the move.

As the huge water cascade streamed so fast down the mountainside, it collected everything: huge rocks and, of course, mud and what was left of the ice from the top of the mountain. With all of that mixture together, it formed something like concrete. That is exactly what hit the population, who were all so busy, the buildings, and, in fact, everything there. It was a huge mountain of water, rocks, and mud, forming like concrete, demolishing buildings and anything in its path.

Timur had more than one hundred houses, and after the disaster hit, only one or two were left standing. It went on and on, and by 4pm that afternoon, the mud, rocks, and the huge wave hit Devghat around 170 kilometres from the actual mountain. The whole mud and rocks, etc raised 9 metres up, approximately the same size as a three-story building.

No words can capture this devastation in Nepal.

It is incredibly devastating. None of us ever knows what can happen in just a "twinkling of an eye"; all of a sudden, our lives can be totally changed forever. I can't even imagine what those people are going through.

In the Bible, things changed so dramatically all of the time.

When Jesus was here physically on earth, he performed so many miracles; it was totally amazing. In the Bible, in Matthew chapter 8: 16-17, Jesus healed the sick and helped them so much. He wasn't a trained doctor as such, but he is God, and he was on earth to do just that: to heal the sick and get through to many just how important it is to give your life to him and let him lead you.

After reading about the total disaster in Nepal and how many people must be suffering, it is just so important that we must be alert not only about things that can happen so dramatically, just like the disaster that hit Nepal and took so many lives, but also to be alert as to what is going to happen when Jesus comes back, which could be sooner than anyone thinks.

We must be ready. How do we become ready? By giving our lives over to the one who sacrificed his own life to pay for all of our sins. He did this so that when we finally have to face our Creator God, all of our sins are forgotten and forgiven, which to me is totally amazing and totally undeserved. 

Jesus paid for our sins on that cruel cross on Calvary all those years ago, and then he rose again to spend eternity in heaven, preparing a place in paradise for all who decide to give their lives entirely over to him. 

Do we all just naturally go to heaven when we die? Unfortunately, no, certainly not. If we live our lives just cruising along and having virtually nothing to do with God at all, then we will have to pay the price in hell. It is entirely up to us to make that decision. Give our hearts and lives to God and make him first place in our lives, or pay the price at the end.

Listening and looking at the total disaster of what happened in Nepal, it was devastating and so, so horrible. None of us will even know the time or place when our lives will be over, maybe cut short and completely unexpected, or dragged on at the end somehow. Ask God to lead you, leading your life in everything you do and everywhere you go.

Let God lead you and enter your life. Put God ahead of you in everything you do, everywhere you go, and in everyone you meet.

God bless you this week, and I hope to see you next time.