We had been living here in Mississippi for just under two months when "it" finally happened...a hurricane heading our way. If you are not familiar with where we live...Biloxi, Mississippi...there is barely one tenth of a mile between the front gate of Keesler Air Force Base and the end of the United States...that is, you run out of real estate and end up in the Gulf of Mexico. The interesting thing about this particular hurricane (Gustav) was that it didn't have much sympathy for the Gulf Coast. Gustav decided to hit the weekend of not only a holiday (Labor Day) but during the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (August 29, 2005). We experienced the anxiety and stress of an officially mandated evacuation of my family (wife and kids to Iowa) and the call for me to "shelter" on base to ride out the storm. I am thankful for God's mighty hand of how He guides even the most violent of storms. Although He may "allow" the storms of this magnitude to make landfall, He chooses to let it happen to show His love and compassion for us by working through the caregivers, weather forecasters, medical teams, chapel teams, and law enforcement/military leadership. God shows Himself through the lives of others to prove His love and care for us. In the eye of the hurricane and wrapped around the mass of moisture of the tropical depression is the presence of God. We repeat the words of Psalm 107:28-30, "Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven." We have weathered another storm and have met God in it. Once again, God showed Himself...once again, God was proven.
