Column: Did any good come from Sandy?

• Sandy cost hundreds of lives and billions of dollars.
• The fact that it wrecked such havoc on New York City and elsewhere should give us perspective
• The most important things in life are still love, honor, kindness, faith and God.

Where was God during Superstorm Sandy?

It's a question many have been asking, given the level of devastation and the enormous amount of suffering that took place. Most people of faith believe that God allows suffering only because he is able to somehow pull a greater "good" out of it — either in this life or the next. Sometimes it's easy to see what that "good" is, but other times — especially when there's death involved — it's virtually impossible.

What kind of "good" could have possibly come out of this tragic storm?

Well, for one, there were all the miraculous stories — stories of people who were in great danger but were somehow saved; people who should have lost everything but somehow didn't. There were all the acts of kindness and generosity. All the examples of bravery and sacrifice. All the instances of cooperation and camaraderie. All the amazing and poignant stories of personal heroism — thousands of them.

There were (and continue to be) food drives, clothing drives, people opening their homes to complete strangers, churches setting up special kitchens to serve coffee and food, businesses opening their doors to anyone in need of free wifi service or power strips to charge their phones.

In a word, there was all the love that was poured out in so many ways by so many people.

But there was something else good that came out of this nightmare — for those who are open to seeing it. And it involves one of the most important truths we can ever learn in life: Along with the roofs and trees and houses, this brutal storm also ripped away any notions we may have had that we are in control.

Oh, we like to think we're so independent. We plan, we schedule, we save our money, we live our lives as if we're really self-sufficient. But it's nonsense.

All of us are just a hair's breath away from death. Whether it's a car accident, cancer, a heart attack, or a hurricane that finally does us in, none of us has any guarantee that we'll be here tomorrow. Never was a more accurate line written than the one in Scripture that says the same God that gave us the morning does not promise us the evening.

Of course we all need to plan long-term. Of course we need to live a good deal of our lives as if we were going to be here for a while — because we might. But the operative word here is still "might." The moment we lose sight of the precarious nature of existence, we lose touch with reality and begin living a delusion.

Money can be a big danger in this regard. There's nothing like riches to fool us into believing that we're invulnerable. Fancy cars, vacations, opulent houses, and jewelry are all nice — but not if they trick us into thinking that we're "safe." Lots of people who had lots of money lost everything in the storm. In fact, those who owned luxurious beachfront homes discovered faster than anyone just how perishable those possessions really are.

Technology can be a trap too. Sure the iphone is wonderful. It gives us access to all our contacts, our calendars, our finances, our emails, our music and much more. It gives us the warm, cozy feeling that everything that's important to us can be put in a secure little package — and one that fits right in our pockets. Amazing!

And then, poof! The electricity goes out, the cell phone towers go down and what have we got? Nothing. Another illusion. A little wind blows through — not even a true Category One hurricane — and we're utterly decimated. No light, no heat, no phones, no TV, no internet, no gas. It's back to primitive life. And we're not talking here about some backwoods little town. We're talking about New York City.

The truth is, we're all naked — no matter how much money we have, no matter how powerful we may be. Sandy caused so much suffering. But if any good can possibly come out of it, let it be that we finally get our priorities straight. The lesson of Sandy is that we can't ever allow the illusions of this world to blind us to the fact that the most important things in life are still love, honor, kindness, faith and God. Like the wind, these things are invisible, but they're more real than anything we can see.

And best of all, they can never be wiped out by any natural disaster.

Anthony DeStefano is the author of Angels All Around Us: A Sightseeing Guide to the Invisible World.

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