Hurricanes

June 1.  The beginning of hurricane season in Florida and the east coast as far west as Pennsylvania. When we moved to Florida almost 20 years ago people would give us a shocked look as ask what were we going to do about hurricanes.

My response what that we've lived through bad weather in every part of the country.  Everything except a tsunami.  In Denver, I walked to work in snow above my boots.  I Arizona, we watched a forest fire burn down our mountain and commissary stock depleted to feed the firemen.  In California, it was small earthquakes.  They were so small, it was hard to tell if it was an earthquake or a navy jet taking off.  My mother-in-law lived close enough to the runway for those buggers to rattle a few dishes and make the floor jiggle.

In Germany, the fog was often so dense, the only way you could see the road was hang your head out the side window, especially if it were after dark.  Come to think of it, we experienced the same thing in Pennsylvania.  As a child growing up in Pennsylvania, there were usually a few days of bitter cold-below zero stuff.

Missouri had a horrible drought and intense heat the first year we lived there.  Over 100 days with no rain and about the same time with temperatures in the high 90's or low 100's.  While I was at the realtor's office, one of the realtors started screaming there was a tornado coming.  She was hysterical because her son was outside in the parking lot.  My sons were outside playing when I called.  I couldn't leave the building so I asked them if they knew what to do to prepare.  My eldest assured me everything was under control.  It struck the portico of the Nazarene church a few hundred yards away from the house.  Later, I found the globes from the dining room chandelier on the sofa, with the back cushions pulled over them for protection.  Meanwhile, my sons had gone back out to play football! I still remember neighbors outside looking up at strange clouds, anyone of which could have formed a tornado and wiped us all out.

Then there was the blizzard on October 31, in Ohio.  Snow drifts were over 6' high in the driveway.  The landlord's snowplow was too small to handle it.  He and my husband moved the drifts by snow shovel.  Since I love to shovel snow, I helped.  For six weeks after that, we had an ice storm once a week.  The roads were like greased lightening.  We went out for dinner one night and Bob lost control as we rounded the side of the building.  We spun out-several times-while I screamed some unkind things to my husband for going too fast.  I watched in horror as we slid sideways next to a car waiting in the takeout line.  We stopped less than 2 inches from the other car.  Bob sedately pulled the car into a parking space as though doing donuts in a crowded parking lot was a normal thing to do

Chicago had a flood that required me to run down the sidewalk instead of flooding the car in the El underpass which was about 2 feet deep in the middle, but the sidewalk was level.  That was a fun challenge.  I saw trucks wider than my car hopping the curb and tooling over that walkway, so I followed.

So what's a hurricane in comparison?  Floods, heat, drought, tornadoes, forest fires, earthquakes, and even volcanoes (Hawaii).  Been there, done that. Why should I be afraid of hurricanes?  I'm not foolish.  I know they can kill.  And destroy.  That I know from first hand experience.  Hurricane Frances struck September 4, Ivan a couple of weeks later, and 3 weeks to the day later, Jeanne hit. Frances weakened our condo, Ivan saturated the ground, and Jeanne destroyed the condo.  For 22 months, it was nothing but studs and dirt.

Jeanne destroyed a lot of things.  One pilot told a neighbor he could always tell when he flew over Sebastian.  Blue roofs (tarps).  Trees were twisted like wet towels and then snapped.  The river rose to withing 50' of our porch.  Limbs covered the road and poles leaned precariously toward the road in water filled ditches.  Wires hung low, making us wonder if we could get under them or not.

What may not be known about hurricanes is that tornadoes are spawned, often more detrimental than the hurricane.  I'm told that's what happened in Andrew and the last I heard, Jeanne had surpassed Andrew in tornadoes.  

The interesting thing about severe storms is that once they're over the weather is breathtakingly beautiful.  The sun shines so brightly, the sky is so blue, the shrubbery and trees that survived are greener, and the clouds a puffy white contrast to the blue sky.  Everything looks clean and fresh.

However, the hardest thing to endure are those who endured the storms with you.  Contractors, construction workers flood the area, all looking to make a quick buck for shoddy workmanship from people desperate to have a place to live.

As long as the power is out, the rule is to make every intersection a 4 way stop. HA!  One guy in a big dump truck flipped me a bird when I took my turn.  Another woman passed me in the left turn lane even though I was planning to use that lane.  The national guardsman saw her and pulled her over.  Whether she got a ticket, a chewing out, or just delayed I don't know.

The shelves empty at the grocery store and the parking lot is full of glass to be avoided.  The elderly are especially hard hit with illnesses and fear.  So many people got a dog to keep them company after the storms.  Some who were ill died, some contracted debilitating diseases, possibly from concern.

Board meetings at the condo were excruciatingly painful, but necessary.  I made a suggestion to one neighbor and she bit my head off.  The project manager screamed at me when I asked her a question and later she was fired for skimming.  The insurance company wanted to settle for $3000 for a red tagged unit (totally destroyed.)  Nine times, the board changed its mind about whether they were going to tear it down and rebuild or just redo.

With all of that, there is an upside.  Psalm 29 says it's the voice of the Lord that breaks the cedars.  It's His voice that strikes with flashes of lightning and shakes the deserts.  It's He Who strips the forests bare and sits enthroned over the flood.  Through all of that, it is He Who gives strength to His people and blesses His people with peace.

I've been in peaceful places without God's peace.  I'd rather have His peace while the storms blow outside.  It's much safer.