Stormy Thoughts

Fixed plumbing. Met Donald’s new girl for lunch with Jennifer, Pat and Eve. New girl was lost in the Cowart hive. I think meeting us as a group may have overwhelmed her. She’s a Jacksonville native and a graphic artist.

I’ve been at a loss about how to pray concerning Hurricane Katrina which approaches New Orleans this morning. The tv news shows long lines of people walking into the superdome for shelter and I wonder how many of them will be alive tomorrow.

A couple of random thoughts:

1. -- Nothing against New Orleans, but I’m thankful it’s them in the hurricane’s path instead of us. That’s not a very Christian attitude, is it? But whenever a storm approaches here, I can’t help but pray it will hit somebody else instead.

2. -- There is no reason it could not be Jacksonville.

3. --A natural phenomena, hurricanes are necessary for the earth’s replenishment.

4. – God controls the path of the storm and for His own reasons He directs it this way instead of that. I can pray that many frightened people will think of Him and call on Him for mercy; but I can’t picture such devastation as an evangelism tool.

5. I can’t see this hurricane as a punishment for sin; there is nothing that goes on in New Orleans that does not go on within walking distance from my house. So why them instead of us -- this time?

6. – Ginny & I trained as Red Cross volunteers a few years ago but dropped out after training. I wonder if we perhaps should have stuck with their program.

7. From the photos I see of life in a shelter, I’m so claustrophobic I don’t think I could stand being with that many people in any confined space.

I subscribe to a free e-mail devotional service which Donald put together and this morning’s readings seem appropriate for today. Oddly enough, I think the Daily Light selections were prepared over 50 years ago; the Spurgeon selections are over a hundred years old.

Here is a section from Daily Light (It could be from the morning news):

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. — It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. — The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.

The reading from Spurgeon touches me on a more personal level::

The best of men are conscious above all others that they are men at best.
Empty boats float high, but heavily laden vessels are low in the water; mere professors can boast, but true children of God cry for mercy upon their unprofitableness.