I am happy to be a Georgia Baptist and Southern Baptist. Our denomination is a balm - a fragrant ointment or aromatic oil for healing. Our denomination is a light - a beacon, a ray of hope, shining in a dark world. Our denomination is a condiment (salt) - adding flavor to an insipid culture or in some cases preserving a society tending toward corruption. Our denomination is a voice - ringing out the clarion call of the gospel and offering encouragement and blessing to a distraught people. Baptists are almost ubiquitous (everywhere at all times) and always quick to respond where people are hurting.

When America was reeling from the tragedy of 9/11, Baptists were on the scene in New York and Washington to offer aid. Baptist Disaster Relief Units were present to feed, comfort and counsel those who had seen catastrophe in an up close and personal way.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Southern Baptists are the third largest disaster relief agency in the country, behind the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army. Southern Baptists have consistently been at the forefront in providing assistance and relief in times of national and international turmoil.

When Florida experienced the wrath of Hurricanes Bonnie, Charley, Frances and Ivan last year, Southern Baptists, including many Georgia Baptists, were there to bring order out of chaos. Georgia Baptists had feeding, communication and recovery units activated and assigned to Wauchula, Punta Gorda and Gulf Breeze, Fla., but not limited to those areas.

When an earthquake shook Bam, Iran on Dec. 26, 2003, once again Georgia Baptists were there to feed the hungry, clothe the impoverished and dispense medical supplies as needed.

I was in a Sunday School class when I first heard about the earthquake in the Indian Ocean that created the devastating, death-dealing tsunami that has dominated the news since Dec. 26 - the one-year anniversary of the Bam earthquake. The 9.0 magnitude quake off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island was the most powerful earthquake in the world in four decades.

News reports indicated that a wall of water sometimes as high as 40 feet swept onto coastlines with the speed of a 747 passenger jet, or 500 miles an hour. Almost 160,000 deaths have been reported in eleven different countries. Millions are homeless.

Animals seemed to intuitively know that something unusually catastrophic was about to occur and headed to safety long before the phenomenon occurred. But when the floodtide came, parents saw their children swept away in a murderous avalanche of water. Children are now orphans because their parents are numbered among the victims of the worst natural disaster in memory.

Tourists had their festive holiday transformed into a hellish nightmare. When the water subsided, death seemed to reign supreme in many areas of Asia, but some survivors were clinging to floating boxes and palm trees far from shore in the Indian Ocean. One news video depicted hundreds of bodies strewn among the debris and devastation resulting from the onslaught of the raging sea.

From the time the first deadly wave of water hit the Indonesian coast, Southern Baptist missionaries were on the scene ready to demonstrate the love of Christ. The same was true in Thailand, Sri Lanka and so many of the areas devastated by the deadly tsunami (Japanese for "harbor wave").

On Jan. 7, Jim Richardson, who coordinates Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief ministries, flew to Indonesia with a volunteer mission team from Georgia to help with health and medical needs. Subsequent mission teams will go to the affected countries to assist with such things as the purification of water.

Baptists are also committed to giving the Water of Life to thirsty souls. Indeed, we are to be couriers of the presence of God to a hurting world, not just to alleviate human needs, but also to share the love of Christ that redeems and transforms lives.

How incredibly significant it is to be a part of a Christian body that is engaged in missions and ministries all over the world. When people who experience tragedy ask, "Why would God allow such destruction and suffering and death?" Baptists are there to help provide the answer.

When Jesus was on the cross He asked the same question: "My God, why ... why has thou forsaken me?" Jesus had every right to ask that question, because when He took our sins upon Himself, He was forsaken by God. But He did that so we might never be forsaken. However, Satan would like for us to think that God has abandoned us, but it is often through the crucible of tragedy that we find the reality of God and discover that He can be trusted even when He cannot be tracked.