God Sent a Cockroach

I wrote the following poem on March 23, 2004, remembering one of the strangest answers to prayer that I have ever witnessed as a child growing up in the Philippines. As you may gather, I was the boy in question. The only detail I can think of that I left out is that the cockroach did not live to tell the tale. Also, my mom was sharing about it in a prayer meeting with colleagues later in the day, and someone commented, "God sent you a cockroach and you killed it??"

I forget the date of the incident, but I believe it was in the late 1980s or early '90s.

Photo by Kohyao on Adobe Stock

In a far-off land
There lived a boy
Who went to school in the morning
With his father the teacher
In a city not known for its wonderful traffic
So at 4 in the morn
His mother roused him from bed
And every evening he prayed
He'd be alert the next day

And one morning God chose
To answer the boy's prayer
In the last way the boy would expect

In the tropical heat
There was no blanket on the bed
The boy lay on top of the sheet
Too hot even for a t-shirt in bed

His mom came to wake him up
The sleepy boy opened his eyes
And then it happened:
God sent a cockroach!
It scurried over the boy's bare belly
And suddenly
The sleepiness left
The boy was alert
Very alert
And he remembered his prayer
And thanked God for sending a cockroach
God used an insect to bring glory to His Name

As the years have gone by
The boy has grown into a man
He has never forgotten the cockroach God sent
To remind him
That God can use anything at all
To answer prayer
And to bring honor to His Name

A Nightmare and a Legacy

I wrote this poem April 21, 2007 after the cowardly attack on Virginia Tech that senselessly took 32 innocent lives and that of the shooter. Sadly, not much has improved since then. I have been aghast with all the violence in the past few years all over the US. In the name of the victims at Virginia Tech, Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Las Vegas, Orlando, Uvalde, Michigan State, and so many more, we need to set aside our differences and put an end to this!

As many of the victims at Virginia Tech were in French and German classes, I translated it into French (with valuable proofreading help from the folks at the A la Française Forum, which is no longer online), and I appreciate the excellent translation work into German by Jessica Eberhardt and Beate Peter.

Photos: Virginia Tech

ENGLISH
A Nightmare and a Legacy

A senseless act
A heinous deed
And when the nightmare was over, 32 innocent lives had been snuffed out
32 lives with so much promise
Suddenly cut short in their prime

They studied to make the world a better place
They taught their students the skills they would need to succeed
But in one catastrophic morning
Their studies and lessons came to a horrifying end
And 33 families were left wondering why
While shockwaves reverberated across the campus,
Across the country,
Across the world

They came from all over the world:
From Israel, Indonesia, Peru, Lebanon, Canada, Vietnam, India, Egypt, Puerto Rico, and across the USA
Each had a dream
And each pursued it
So why did so much work, so much living,
Have to come crashing down in such a sudden heartbreaking manner?
What purpose did God have for allowing this to happen?
Could it be that others will pick up the torches?

Whatever the case,
May God be praised
For so many lives well lived
For sparing so many more lives –
Both by a professor's last selfless heroic act
And because so many other victims survived

God can work through even the worst tragedies
May He be glorified for what He will do
May their legacy live on
And may He comfort the families and friends
And heal the wounded
As only He can.

FRENCH

Un cauchemar et un legs

Un acte insensé
Un oeuvre épouvantable
Et lorsque le cauchemar fut terminé, 32 vies innocentes s'en étaient allées
32 vies avec tant de promesse
Fauchées dans la fleur de l'âge

Ils étudièrent pour rendre le monde meilleur
Ils enseignèrent à leurs étudiants les compétences dont ils auraient besoin pour réussir
Mais en une seule matinée catastrophique,
Leurs études et leurs leçons se terminèrent de façon horrifiante
Et 33 familles se demandèrent pourquoi
Tandis que l’onde de choc retentit à travers le campus,
À travers le pays,
À travers le monde

Ils vinrent du monde entier
D'Israël, de l'Indonésie, du Pérou, du Liban, du Canada, du Viêt Nam, d’Inde, d’Égypte, du Puerto Rico, et d'à travers les États-Unis
Chacun eut un rêve
Et chacun le poursuit
Pourquoi donc tant de travail, tant de joie de vivre,
Devaient-ils s'effondrer dans un déchirement si soudain?
Pourquoi Dieu a-t-Il permis que ceci se produise?
Se pourrait-il que des autres se passeront les flambeaux?

En tout cas,
Que Dieu soit loué
Pour tant de vies si bien vécues
Pour avoir épargné tant d'autres vies –
Et à cause du dernier acte désintéressé et héroïque d'un professeur,
Et parce que tant de monde survécut

Dieu peut oeuvrer même à travers les pires des tragédies
Qu'Il soit glorifié pour ce qu'Il fera
Que leur legs survive
Et qu'Il soulage les familles et les amis des morts
Qu'Il guérisse les blessés
Comme Il peut, Lui seul, le faire.

GERMAN
Ein Albtraum und ein Vermächtnis

Eine sinnlose Tat
Eine schandhafte Arbeit
Und als der Albtraum yu Ende war,
waren 32 unschuldige Leben ausgelöscht
32 Leben mit so viel Hoffnung
In ihrer höchsten Vollkommenheit auf einmal abgeschnitten

Sie studierten, um die Welt in einen besseren Ort zu verwandeln
Sie brachten ihren Schülern Wissen bei, um es in der Welt zu schaffen
Aber an einem katastrophalen Morgen
Fanden ihre erlernten Fähigkeiten plötzlich ein schreckliches Ende
Und 33 Familien standen mit der Frage nach dem Warum da
Während die Schockwellen über dem Campus zusammenschlugen
Über dem Land
Um die Welt

Sie kamen aus der gangen Welt
Aus Israel, Indonesien, Peru, dem Libanon, Indien, Ägypten, Puerto Rico und überall aus den Staaten
Jede/r hatte einen Traum
Und jede/r lebte ihn aus
Warum musste so viel Arbeit, so viel Leben in einem Herz zerbrechenden Zusammenstoβ auf uns niederfallen?
Welchen Grund hatte Gott für dieses Geschehen?
Könnte es sein, dass andere die Fackeln aufheben

Was der Grund auch sein mag
Mein Gott soll angebetet werden
Für so viele gut gelebte Leben
Und für die Leben, die nicht zu Ende gingen

Gott kann uns sogar in den schlimmsten Zeiten helfen
Er sei gepriesen für das, was er tun wird
Ihr Vermächtnis lebe
Er tröste die Familien und Freunde
Und er heile die Verwundeten
Nur er kann es tun