pray for hurricane victims

As Gustav barrels toward and through Cuba, probably on its way to the New Orleans Gulf Coast, we should be praying for those in its path. This cat 3 hurricane with speeds of 120 mph (building to a category 5 with 155 mph winds) has already killed 78 people in the Caribbean. The landslides, floods and high winds resulting from this storm are deadly.

Hanna is another storm out there rolling along. There are also two more tropical storms that are being tracked off the coast of Africa. Good times at the beach.

Unless you live in an area that has been impacted by a hurricane, you can’t imagine the emotional impact of coming storms. People are on edge and rightfully so. By the way, we in Florida are not praying that the storms will turn away from us and hit someone else. 3 years ago, Katrina passed directly over us as a tropical depression and developed into the historic hurricane that wiped out New Orleans. While we are grateful for the protection, we don’t consider their loss as our gain. It is all pretty humbling.

Because of the infrastructure in the US, we are much more able to deal with these natural disasters as are less developed nations. As bad as previous hurricanes have been and even considering the terrible job that FEMA has done, we can handle these storms better than people in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica…

Plainly, I am praying that these storms fall apart or at least hit uninhabited areas. If they hit populated areas, I am praying for the storms to weaken. If the storms are powerful and hit developed areas, I am praying for God’s hand to protect life.

God is in control. Let’s turn to Him for help.