When fault lines rupture, the stress is dislocated and spreads out to other faults, which pose varying risks of also splitting and producing more earthquakes. The shallower the hypocenter - the location beneath the earth - the greater the impact. In Christchurch there was a 17km-long rupture along the fault plane on a very steep angle, beginning at a depth of 3km and ending 12 km underground. There were buried and unrecognized faults in Canterbury. Some may not have moved for many thousands of years, but had been reactivated as stresses in the earth's crusts had been redistributed since September, Many geologists believed that modern-day tectonic plate motions had reawakened some of these very old faults, causing them to fail. More than 5,000 aftershocks have occurred since the first earthquake on September 4.

The results have been catastrophic for businesses and families who have lost their premises and homes. With nerves frayed by months of tremors domestic violence has surged by 50 percent. Many homeless or without power or water have turned to alcohol to cope. The stress and trauma has taken its toll. The region's health director cited a spike in suicides and stress-related conditions which has gotten most people very, very fragile, and very anxious. The enormous pressures and strains on families, relationships, and livelihoods have brought people closer to their breaking point. Peter Beck, dean of Christchurch Cathedral said that, "People lose a sense of stability and security and there's a kind of anger that comes and you don't know where to put it, you don't know where to direct it, and it's often that it gets directed inside and against those you love."

While we may not have been affected by an earthquake, most of us have been affected by unexpected tragedies that have placed pressures upon our stability and security. It may be illnesses, financial pressures that we could not have anticipated, emotional stress from family or other relationships. All of a sudden the ground moves under our feet and there is no place of safety. Our world changes, and the results are far-reaching and lasting. Nothing will be the same again. How can we move on out of the pain and grow again?

The Philippian jailer was about to kill himself when he saw the prison doors open, because he thought the prisoners had escaped and he would be held responsible. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself. We are all here." All is not lost. Don't despair. It is not your fault. Don't jump to conclusions. Don't catastrophise. Your life has not ended.

The jailer rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

Saved from what? Saved from physical injury, retribution, loss of face, a sense of failure, fear of the future, free-floating anxiety and insecurity, guilt over the way he treated Paul and others (they had been severely flogged, thrown into prison, and he had fastened their feet into stocks). Saved from accountability for the good he had not done in his life. Saved from death and condemnation? Perhaps he knew what we all know is that there is something deeply wrong with us all that causes us to rebel against God, and go our own way, and that we need to be saved from that attitude of defiant self-sufficiency and spiritual indifference.

We all need to be saved from something. What it is only we know. Sometimes even we do not know what is troubling us. The problem is buried deep within us, like the fault-lines in the earth, and they only become apparent under stress. What are the fault-lines in your life? One form of confession uses the words: "I have sinned by my own fault, in thought, word and deed, in things done and left undone; especially . For these and other sins which I cannot now remember, I am truly sorry."

It may be that it is an unconscious awareness that we have fallen short of God's plan and purpose for our lives. God intends us to walk daily hand in hand with him, doing his will, enjoying his company, reflecting the image of Christ within us, being filled with his Spirit. We may have ignored his voice, neglected his love, and hardened our hearts against his invitations to us to join him on his mission of bringing in the kingdom. Our mission becomes our own personal fulfillment and we miss out on finding the mission God has in store for us. We have settled for the lower road rather than the higher road, the broad way that leads to destruction, rather than the narrow way that leads to life. We settle for life lived within the confines of our self-centered imagination rather than life in all its fullness that Christ came to bring.

How does the apostle respond to the jailer's question? "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved - you and your household." Simple words but profound. That was the agenda, but not the whole answer. Paul had to speak the word of the Lord to them and instruct them in this way of salvation: who Jesus is and what he has done, and will do, and is doing now by his Spirit. As a result the jailer and his family took a step of commitment - they were baptized and joined the Church. They became part of a new family with the followers of Jesus.

The result of his earthquake experience and his response in faith, was that "he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God - he and his whole family." Rather than ending his life, he entered into a new life in Christ. Rather than despairing of his future, he anticipated a new hope in Christ.

What about you? How are you handling the earthquakes of life? How can you find joy? Jesus said, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." (John 15:11) What must you do to be saved?

A = Admit your need of salvation.

B = Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

C = Consider the seriousness of such a commitment.

D = Do something about it:

be baptized, join the church, a class, read your Bible daily, and pray.

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