Sunday Thoughts

by Al Sturgeon
(Sundays in Desperate Houseflies)

OF HURRICANES AND GOD

I thought I might be on a hurricane-induced vacation today, but surprisingly, I'm sitting here with an opportunity to write. Without much forethought, however, I'll just take the risk of making it up as I go along. After staring down a hurricane, taking a writing risk doesn't seem too intimidating.

I'm no old-timer just yet, but the past couple of years have kicked my hurricane knowledge into high gear. I've heard more than my share of stories from the big one (1969's Camille), along with firsthand accounts of other Mississippi Gulf Coast storm visitors like Frederick, Elana, and Georges. I've learned a little bit about how these scary suckers work, I've done some on-the-job training on how to evacuate, I've sat in the dark waiting for the storm to pass through, and I've even learned a little of the lingo. (Don't say that Dennis ended up as a Category 3 hurricane if you live here - just say that Dennis was a Cat 3. It even sounds cooler.) And last year, after Ivan, I've even spent a couple of days helping in the clean-up.

Today was another class session.

We've been watching Dennis all week long, wondering if it would really do what Jim Cantore and his cronies predicted. It did. We were "in the cone" until late this morning, just hours before Dennis made landfall in storm-ravaged Pensacola. Many of our friends and neighbors headed for friendlier places in the last couple of days, witnessing quite a sight I'm sure when entire Interstates were turned to run only one direction. The rest of us stayed here, fighting at Wal-Mart over water and batteries, lining up at the gas pumps to fill up, watching ourselves on television, and getting our houses ready for a possible attack.

To tell the truth, it is quite a rush.

After working on loading up all day yesterday, and watching the Weather Channel all along, we went to bed last night ready to evacuate this morning. I sat my alarm at 4am, got up as soon as it went off, and after a final look at the weather, loaded up everything, shut off the power, and headed for our church building (the safest place we know of down here). That was the most excitement we had today.

We ended up west of the storm, the best place to be outside of Alaska. It was windy, a bit rainy, and that was about it for us. We came back home a couple of hours ago, unpacked our belongings, and life has returned to normal. Not true for Pensacola, Florida, just 100 miles away. Who knows the devastation they witnessed today.

I don't guess I have a big religious point today. I'm probably just writing for therapeutic purposes. I do know one thing, however: Days like this sure make me think about God. I am painfully aware that I cannot control very much of this life, and it is my treasure to truly believe that someone bigger than Hurricane Dennis rides above all the storms.

I'll rest easier tonight.