#blatten

Key fact is that it's a Swiss village that was almost completely wiped out in May '25, being buried benath a gargantuous landslide that came down from the local mountain's peak. Scientist experts knew about it in advance though and so the population was luckily evacuated in time, leaving the massive avalanche of stone and ice to kill only 1.

Thing is though, I've become weirdly obsessed with it since then. Kept following the news for updates for quite some time and can't quite place why. But as a Christian, I then started to notice some things about the event that began to slowly resemble some sort of biblical symbolism, and I started to wonder why I thought I saw God's hand on it. After all, it was just a random, devastating natural catastrophe like the ones that happen every day somewhere. Terrible to the people, not to make sense of, incomprehensible and senseless in its suffering and in its destruction of livelihoods. And how cruel to have supposed meaning assigned to it by the uninvolved and unconcerned around it.

And yet, I spotted a certain handwriting about it that I Know™, and so my ears perked up about it and I kept listening to the podcasts, kept reading the news. Do you know who the one person killed was? A freaking Shepherd. Why was he killed? Because he went back for his sheep. He was the only one killed and the entire rest of the inhabitants were spared.

Next. People kept referencing their religious upbringing and coping on live TV. I don't know if this is a general thing in Switzerland or not, but I found that many of the interviewed survivors found solace because they at least believed in "someone protecting them". I was amazed that these references of a good, protective God were mentioned and aired so casually on Swiss national television. Didn't figure such a common attitude of faith was still a thing. Of course every person asked Why. But they did so with a mindset of not being able to understand everything that happens in life, trusting in the guy above, gratefulness for the protection (where ever it may have come from) and almost optimistic hope that everything was going to be alright in the future. Their inner strength was palpable. Call it superstition, but there is this thing about mountain farmers still able to respect God to a degree because they are forced to respect the freaking mountains. The mountain is immovable. The mountain makes the laws, and their efforts are helpless against it. This may make it easier, I guess, to respect other things that won't bend to one's will. Looking at the mountains around you can be a daily reminder that uncontrollable things, visible or invisible, still exist today.

So I thought huh, people there still believe in something. Of course that indicates more of God's closeness, because he loves to be near to those who seek him. In consequence, it's no wonder a God Thing might have happened there, and why I can seemingly identify a handwriting more than in perhaps another situation. Because he writes and becomes visible where he is given the space to do so! Everything seemed to be so... morally clear there. Less of the muddied waters of other catastrophes, and more simple signs. So next, I began immediately searching for the fate of the Church building.

Why? Because when you grow up Christian, you eventually hear these epic, fantastical tales about the Church building being the only thing often making it through fires, bombings, and other disasters somehow unscathed. The same goes for copies of Bibles. So for the case of Blatten, I began looking out for information about that. Didn't find any, didn't want to dig into it conspiratory-style, so I progressed to ignore it. Don't need to put on a tinfoil hat and go search for meaning when there simply isn't any. This stands in contrast to the Handwriting™, which can be a thing of recognition when you see it. There's a difference.

Well, fast forward a couple of months later. Looked up the news on Blatten again, just to see what had become of it. They're rebuilding the village, by the way. People have been able to save some of their belongings, and new roads have been built to access the location. Support from the whole country has been great, and livelihoods are being saved as tourism is being reintroduced to the area. So far, so good.

Until I open a short video clip where 3 guys are driving on one of the emergency roads. And suddenly one of the men says: "Hey, stop here." They stop the car. And the guy goes: "Did you know the roadside chapel was spared." Another guy, in complete disbelief, goes: "NO IT WAS NOT." First guy says: "Yes, it was, and a whole bunch of trees above it as well. And the candles there were still burning after the landslide."

And I just go wheeeeeeeeeeeee of freaking COURSE the chapel was spared. (The Church, by the way, is completely submerged in rubble.) And I'm like. Sure. Explain it away. Say that the chapel was almost out of reach of the effects and tell me that it was made of solid stone. Not denying that. But so were other houses whose roofs fully collapsed and whose foundations broke away. Don't overinterpret. Don't say things that weren't there. Don't make stuff up where there just isn't any story to be told. I try not to be that person, it's hard and the lines blur more easily when you believe in the invisible. But there have been stories, and there are tales, and there is occasional evidence, and there is a HANDWRITING that becomes apparent when you know to look for it.

Nihilists will say: "Well why did the landslide happen in the first place? Why would God destroy such a quaint village? Isn't that evil? It's just climate change, nothing more. The population was saved by the scientists, and the shepherd died because he was stupid enough to go back." Well I certainly won't try to answer the vast question of human suffering for a random town in Switzerland that I have nothing to do with. There's no recognizable handwriting there. If there was, we'd already have a general theological answer for all suffering everywhere. But the shepherd? The shepherd went back knowing the danger, because he loved his animals. Not out of stupidity. Out of love.

Well then, nihilists will also say: "Do you think the poor shepherd deserved to die, or wanted to die????? How can you freely associate him with a reflection and glorification of Christ???? He didn't ask to be that????" Nope, he certainly didn't. Neither did Lazarus want to serve as the prime example of Christ's power of resurrection. He just wanted to get well, Jesus betrayed his friendship though by not coming to heal him rightaway, old 'Rus died and was finally at peace, and then Jesus chose to resurrect him for his own private show, only for the Pharisees to immediately hunt down Rus' butt again for the crime of his existence. This was just some innocent guy that this happened to, same as the shepherd, and we don't even know if the shepherd believed or wanted to be like Christ. But he was human. As humans, we are inevitably made in the image of God, meaning, as we may choose to mirror God, God may also choose to mirror himself in us occasionally. As the maker, he gets to choose when he reveals himself through us. And he likes to use the parable of the good shepherd for himself. And unfortunately, if he wanted to write this guy's death as a poem about the sacrificial nature of one person dying for many, that was his right as the creator. It's not us who decide how we go out. So if I recognize a handwriting, this may mean that God tilted the glazed terra cotta of his handiwork, the man, towards the sunlight so a spark of divine glory would be there as he went out. This wasn't up to him, and as a created being, it's okay to have difficult emotions about being "used" like that.

Why am I telling the story of Blatten? Because while I cannot know what even the context of this event was, it somehow caught my attention. I cannot explain or judge it, but I saw someone's signature in there, and thus, meaning and love. God was there, saving his people, and the population of Blatten itself wants to be aware to a degree. I cannot give you a lengthy essay on what reason, or difference anything made. I don't know why I got so obsessed with this natural disaster. I don't know what God wanted to do. But to look at a thing, and to realize that his hand is there, can at least help and comfort a little. It's also a thing to pay attention to. If the master storyteller chooses Blatten to display a glimpse of his presence and glory, and to write beautiful poetry of salvation and love into a terrible landslide that left so many people homeless and stranded, this isn't nothing. It means that maybe God is fully there. It means that maybe God is an option. It means that he seeks to make beauty out of rubble. It means that he's with us.

they're not fucking around

Let op: Gezien de natuurramp die begin deze zomer het dorp Blatten gelegen in het Lötschental trof, heeft de eigenaar van de Anenhütte besloten de zomer van 2025 gesloten te blijven.

Klettersteig is niet geopend! Alle zomertoegangen zijn afgesloten.

Pour ne pas oublier

Un visage apparaît sur la montagne qui s’est effondrée sur le village de Blatten.