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Frank Keating was the governor of Oklahoma when the bombing took place. He recalls some of the things that he witnessed during the weeks following the bombing:

I remember the joy of first rescues on the night of April 19 and how we all marveled at the courage and dedication of the police officers and firefighters who had tunneled into the rubble to save lives.

As the rain fell that night, we all heard the tale of the surgeon who burrowed into the pile to amputate a trapped victim's leg.

I remember the harsh lights and whining concrete saws during subsequent midnight shifts and the way hundreds of workers would suddenly stop and stand and salute as yet another body was recovered. We brought them all home and identified them in the most dignified way possible.

I remember the makeshift dormitories for the FEMA crews. Local volunteers provided hot-food lines and free phones and even massages and haircuts 24/7 for more than three weeks. They were our guests and our heroes.

I remember the prayer service when a president and a great religious leader came to Oklahoma to help and where the biggest applause of all was for a rescue worker and her search dog.

I remember the families and the wounded survivors, those who somehow made it out by a strange quirk of fate and those at the very next desk who did not.

Perhaps most of all I remember the expressions of faith.

A looming office tower stood vigil over the rescue and recovery process for three agonizing weeks. Each night, they left two rows of office lights on, forming a gigantic cross. That cross was replicated everywhere, from the fences that surrounded the site to makeshift shrines.

It was heartbreaking, but it was also inspiring as a people, a community and a nation came together in one concentrated effort to help and sustain.*

168 people died in the Oklahoma City Bombing, 19 of those people being little children. 850 more people were injured.

The size of this tragedy has many people asking, "Why, God?"

During the national memorial service which followed, four clergymen from three major faiths spoke, one of the men being Billy Graham. None of them were able to answer the question "Why God?" - not the Muslim cleric, not the Jewish rabbi, not the Christian pastor, not even Billy Graham.

The lack of an answer frustrates all of us. The carnal person is not willing to accept "I don't know" as an answer. Christian author Jerry Bridges comments on the reason for this frustration:

As we watch tragic events unfolding, or more particularly as we experience adversity ourselves, we often are prone to ask God, "Why?" The reason we ask is because we do not see any possible good to us or glory to God that can come from the particular adverse circumstances that have come upon us or our loved ones.**

Our inability to come up with an answer to "Why?" is due to the fact that our way of thinking is not the same as God's way of thinking.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)

This answer from the Bible leaves some people unsatisfied because the carnal person does not acknowledge God's superiority and sovereignty. For those of us who do, it is still okay for us to ask "Why, God?" Such is the cry of the heart.

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UPDATE (6PM CST): Michelle Malkin is also writing about the Oklahoma City Bombing. She has posted the famous photo of the Oklahoma City firefighter carrying little Baylee Almon out of the Murrah Building.

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*Quote Source

**Jerry Bridges, Trusting God Even When Life Hurts (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1988), p. 119.