God and Hurricanes

I had to leave town yesterday for the day. Thankfully I was able to leave town before it got messy here and return after it cleared up. Seems Ivan spit some nasty rain and wind our way. Lots of limbs and debris down all over the place. But nothing at all in comparison to what hit the AL coast and FL panhandle.

We have vacationed in Gulf Shores where Ivan hit shore. And we went to Destin earlier this summer too. Both of those places were hit very hard. I’ve not seen any Destin pictures, but the pictures of Gulf Shore and neighboring Orange Beach are horrendous. Entire condos smashed. Literally smashed. Trees ripped up. Lumber scattered everywhere. Amazing.

As I said, I was on the road yesterday. I stopped for some gas and Coke/M&M’s once. The lady behind the counter was talking loudly about the storm with a customer. The area I was in had only received a slight drizzle, but the forecast had been uncertain a few days before. This lady was proclaiming, “I knew nothing was going to happen here with this storm to us. I knew the good Lord was going to take care of us. He wasn’t going to let no Hurricane bother us.” And the customer was just nodding and saying, “Right…right.”

But I wonder what the folks who don’t have a home now are saying. Or the people who can’t get to their house to check on it in order to see if it’s even still there. I wonder why people who dodge danger always thank God and seem to boast, “I knew He wouldn’t let nothing happen to us.” But the folks who get hammered just have to cry out for restoration. Of course they prayed for safety before the storm hit.

Did God hear those prayers too? Sure He did. It’s just a mystery to me how everything works out.