Gustav?????

Gustav......threatening big time. It seems to me that there are so many more natural disasters lately. If it isn't a hurricane, a cyclone, tornado, fire, flood, earthquake.......it is something else. One hears talk about the warnings these are that the end times are near. When I add the lawlessness we see in our culture and the other cultures in the world....I must say I'm quite convinced we are in the end times.....but then....Jesus and Paul also spoke as if the end time was near when they were alive. We do know from the Word that all of creation groans for Christ to return and redeem it......we, too, groan for the Son of Man to come upon the clouds of heaven and take us away from all the pain and destruction we see all around us. One interesting blog I read regarding the end time question was worthy of note;


"There are connections between the judgment of God and natural disasters, but we may not know for sure how God might be working through any given event with our limited knowledge, and there's no reason to think that a particular concentration of natural disasters is anything special even if it were true that there is a greater concentration of natural disasters rather than just an overworked media network that now simply reports on these things far more than it did. Given the cyclic nature of hurricanes, with low cycles and high cycles, we have no reason to conclude anything special is going on at all."

Matthew 24 and Luke 21 report what Jesus had to say about all these things. As I read those passages this morning, it jumped out at me again that Jesus tells us that NO ONE knows the time or the hour....not even the Son Himself...only the Father knows. The important thing is to be alert and ready....to warn those that are not interested.

Is it not true that the media hypes all these things up....of course they are crucial and emergency situations. It makes one very unsettled to think the same people that endured Katrina and the devastation of that terrible storm could be standing as sitting ducks for yet another strong hurricane. But, really, CNN.....what can be the purpose of reporting all night long when the evacuation is as complete as it is going to be and the storm is still a long way off?

My prayer is that God will protect lives and yes, even properties for the sake of the people in the region. If there is something we need to learn from another big storm.....God gives us the eyes to see it. Our comfort is in the following verse from Luke 21....

27-28"And then—then!—they'll see the Son of Man welcomed in grand style—a glorious welcome! When all this starts to happen, up on your feet. Stand tall with your heads high. Help is on the way!"