Recap and Problem of Evil

Got back from a 5 day trip to Montreal and Mont Tremblant with the Chungs. Highlights and thoughts:
1. Ate some wicked food much of it courtesy of PGetto's "Culinary Map of Montreal." Rillettes du Canard, Foie Gras Poutine (what a weird food: french fries, gravy, and bland cheese bits), Duck Pate w/ Apricots, Foie Gras Au Torchon, Blood Sausage (mmm...really dark really good), Venison ribs, Lamb sweetbreads (twice), Schwartz's Smoked Meat sandwich, a raw milk cheese dessert, and best of all, pig's feet at Au Pied de Cochon. The NYTimes did a feature on Au Pied de Cochon this past summer (I think): its contribution to the offal craze. I've been eating a lot of offal the past couple of years b/c frankly, most other foods even uni sushi stopped being fun to eat. (I eat for fun and as a means to test my athleticism) So I figured I'd challenge myself and try to eat animal parts most people would gag at the sight of in the supermarket. That attitude has led me to the wonders that are testa (brined cow's head meat)and stewed tripe. Foie gras isn't quite offal but pig's feet and sweetbreads are and let me tell you, if you find either on the menu of any sort of respectable french-tinged eatery, do not pass the opportunity up! You will be duly rewarded with chewy morsels of savory flesh that probably at some point touched a lot of shit. My cholesterol probably went up 10-15% but there's nothing like sinking your teeth into a warm albeit leeky chunk of goose liver!
2. I think I'm an amazing skier.
3. French-Canadians are not as good looking as I thought they'd be despite the fact that they speak French which generally is a blush-inducing tongue.
4. I'd like to visit Montreal in the late spring: seems like it'd be more enjoyable for pedestrians when it's warm out. Not since the Himalayas have I been that cold.
The tsunami:
Not knowing if your close friend---someone you've known since the eight grade--is alive in Thailand is a terrible feeling. Last I heard, Jason was in Laos, but he might've gone back to Thailand for the Christmas holiday. Fuck. This raises once again the all important issue of the problem of evil. If there is a God and this God is loving and good, then why does He allow something like this to happen? It's pretty easy to reconcile the existence of God with the existence of human evil (if you don't believe me, check out Alvin Plantinga's seminal God, Freedom, and Evil), but not so much when it comes to natural disasters. I know that if I am to believe in God, then I should accept the fact that I can't know why God does/allows the things He does, but that doesn't sit right with me when it comes to shit like earthquakes and, I can't believe I'm saying this, tidal waves! What gives me some repose is that the God I believe in understands suffering in his deepest core and therefore can relate to what countless families are experiencing right now. And if I believe in a God that's suffered for our sake and suffers alongside us, then there must be some greater yet to be seen good that will come---that only can come---from this tragedy. I know this doesn't seem right, but that's the only way I can make sense of the idea of God. If God didn't suffer, then all this is brutal. If there's no God, then why do we feel like this ain't just a terrible event, but a grave human injustice?
So yeah, fun and terrible past few days.