The Storm On The Horizon

Some are here on vacation, or just traveling through, and they really don’t know what to make of it at all. Should they stay and ride it out, or should they cut their vacation plans short and run for home. If they decide to stay, I hope that they have a lot of vacation time to spend, because it may be a while before the ATM machines, gas pumps and computer registers are back on line.

There are some people, like news reporters whose job is to go to the center of the storm to keep us all updated. To those folks I say thank you, but at the same time I just want to say that you don’t have to stand in the middle of the street with pelting rain stinging you in the face and holding on to something to keep from being blown away to get me to believe you. There’s no reason to take unnecessary risks to tell me what I can already see.

Finally, there are those who think that being in the middle of a hurricane is a time to party so they travel just to be where the “action” is. Many of them have found a lot more action than what they bargained for. It seems that a lot of people look for any excuse to get drunk and party on. That’s why we have such a thing as a “hurricane party” and those who attend them are often the greatest source of casualties.

The fact is that when the call goes out to prepare for the storm on the horizon, there are some who will CHOOSE TO HEED THE CALL; SOME WHO WILL CHOOSE TO DEFY THEY STORM AND DO THEIR OWN THING AND OTHERS WHO WILL CHOOSE NOT TO BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A REAL DANGER.

Because of those choices, many will live, but some may die, and all of them, regardless of the choice they have made, will see and experience the storm.

Hurricane Katrina may, or may not, give us a direct hit. It seems certain that we will experience more from this one than from the last ones that came ashore in recent years. It may, or may not, knock out electricity for many of us. It may, or may not, destroy homes, property or place lives in jeopardy. It may, or may not, alter your life forever.

With all the uncertainty, people are nervous, some are afraid, and most are making their preparation for the worst and hoping for the best.

But what really strikes me this morning is that there is another storm on the horizon besides Katrina. It’s a storm that is vastly more dangerous than a hurricane. It’s a storm that is far greater than any storm that nature can bring. And it’s a storm that will not turn away or weaken in its intensity.

Let me read to you about this storm in Zephaniah 1:14-18, "The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land."