Where's God?

I had someone recently ask my Christian opinion of what I thought when people make comments like "God was with us to protect us through the tornado hitting our house." Although this sound like a nice and grateful shout-out to a loving God, the question that this comment poses is "where was God when other people perished in the same tornado?" A good question. To claim that God was not capable of saving everyone puts limits on His abilities. And to say God is selective in His love and mercy is to claim that He is not an all loving God. Not characteristics too worthy of praise and worship and not characteristics of the God of the Bible. I believe the Bible reveals an ALL knowing, ALL powerful, and ALL loving creator. So I think the problem is not in asking "where was God" but in claiming that God is protecting only a few chosen people. So "where was God?" is the question I will attempt to tackle. Keeping this tornado scenario as an example I try to present a series of events where trajegy and good fortune both occur within the presence and control of a Holy God.
Sin is a tough concept to understand because all humanity has been so wrapped up in the sinful nature that it is hard to see it as the disease it truly is. The distructive nature of sin is the only reason we suffer, struggle, and eventually die. It is easier for me to understand sin when I view it as selfish pride rather than just wrong doing. All sin is originated in pride. I view the "fall of man" as God's creation being so well made that we ended up falling in love with ourselves more than our creator. Dog owners can understand a glimpse of this broken relationship when we think of a stuborn dog who disobeys his master even when the master provides all the dog's needs. The dog's self reliance is a deterant in the loving relationship. We are not dogs and God is definately not us, but it does make a close parallel.
So the Adam and Eve story sets the stage. Their self reliance was the deterant, so God let them (and us) live with that choice. The choice to live apart from God and on our own. Another parallel I want to add here is caring about a person with a drug addiction. Most people have seen loved ones get hook on some habit that would eventually lead them to destruction. You can try to help, but help will never truly come until the addicted person wants to change. Without this desire to change, the loved ones are forced to watch destruction run it's course, and break hearts along the way. God is watching our destruction run it's course, the destruction caused by sin!
I believe the origins of the tornado is another result of sin. In addition to God cursing the earth and all creation with Adam's sin, we can also determine (with a little Bible study) that there was no rain on earth before the flood and Noah's ark. And the rain and flood was brought about because the sinful nature of man at that time was so rampent ("God's heart was filled with pain." Gen 6:6). I believe this flood brought about the earth's weather patterns and their destructive tendencies. So the flood actually saved the human race from itself, but as a result, brought about the possibilities of tornados.
All this to say that if God is all knowing, powerful, and loving, He must watch our self destruction with a "..heart filled with pain" again. Is He wanting that tornado to rip through the house and distroys lives? Is He ignoring the parents on their knees in prayer for their child being distroyed by cancer? Is He rejoicing at the criminal getting a life sentence? or is He trying (and succeeding) to gently and lovingly guide His creation back to the place where destruction ceases to exist?...

And finally, if sin is the bad new...guess what the "Good News" is?