Karina & Christ (our Shelter from the Storm) p.1
Text-Isaiah 32:1-4
It’s great to be back in our church this Sunday!
We’ve all been through a terrible ordeal with Hurri-
cane Katrina. As a minister, and theologian, I’m try-
ing to make sense of all this. I wonder why it happ-
ened. I wonder if God was trying to say something to
us through all this. In Nahum 1:3 we read-"The Lord
is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at
all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the
whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the
dust of his feet."
I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers
to why this awful storm ravaged our area, killing so
many, leaving so much destruction behind, I’m trying
to find the answers. Many homes were completely de-
molished. Lives were lost. Schedules were interupted
and we all had to endure the heat, loss of electricity
phone service, maybe some-water supply, the darkness
at night, with only candlelight perhaps, and so many
other trying times, such as I had, waiting in line for
eight hours behind scores of cars, just for the right
to fill my car with gas-if you were fortunate enough
to locate any anywhere.
So, everyone suffered, good and bad, Christian
and non-Christian, rich and poor, educated and uned-
ucated, black and white-all of us.
I can say this, I did see God at work in some
people’s lives, reaching out to others with care and
compassion, trying to help.
Here are some of the most impressive statements
that I heard in the past few days:
a black woman-"This is a test. We’d better be careful
how we react to it. Maybe she’s right, but I won-
der, Did we pass the test?
a black man-(seen on my battery operated tv)-He told
of holding his wife’s hand as the storm violently
blew. She told him-"You can’t hold me any longer.
Let me go! Please take care of the kids!"
words scribbled on a wall-"Jesus is coming, whether
or not the government ever shows up!"
As a minister, as I said, I’m trying to understand
the "why?" of all this.
I. Perhaps God was trying to get our attention,
and to tell us that He would like a little of
our time
We’re all so busy we seem to not leave Him much
of the time that we all have.
II. Perhaps God was letting us see that there are
some things we can live without, but that we can
never survive without Him.
III. Perhaps God was trying to get us to think about
others more than ourselves for a change.
IV. Maybe God was trying to encourage us to live
by faith, and trust Him for our daily needs.
We had little or nothing perhaps to eat, drink,
or wear after days and days of the storm’s
aftermath.
V. Maybe God wanted us to see the good and evil
in man, and in ourselves.
VI. Perhaps God wanted us to stop and let Him
know that we appreciate what we do have, and
not complain about what we do not have.
VII. Perhaps He wanted us to minister to others,
and lead them to faith in Christ.
Martin Luther, I am told, once said-"Shake the
tree, and you will see if there is any fruit on
it!" All we had to do was look out our windows,
and we could see trees violently shaking back
and forth, falling on the tops of houses and
cars, destruction everywhere.
Maybe God shook us too, so that fruit would
fall from us.
