hurricane season 2005

Welcome back to hurricane season everybody! As most of you know Katrina is the big winner so far this year, unfortunately those of us who live in hurricane friendly places still have to ride out the results until November 1st when the official season comes to a close. My heart goes out to those in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama who are suffering the brunt of the storm. I was very blessed and only lost electricity for a little while. Although my work place is running on 1/3 power (meaning no air conditioning) it is still a little inconvenience in comparison. Thanks to all my friends who called to check if I was still kickin' after the storm. It's always nice to hear from you, even in the event of a natural disaster. Luckilly enough, I had moved a block over to my new rental house last week right before the storm hit and the new house was the one that kept power. Whereas the house that I lived at last year (a block away) lost two awnings, was flooded, and lost power. So my new house became a sort of intern refugee camp (as they were seeking assylum from the storm) as four new mission volunteers, who just drove into town the day after the storm, and one summer staffer/mission volunteer crashed on our couch and floors for the weekend. I'm happy to say that most of Miami is recovering power and there wasn't too much extensive damage (only roofs, flooding, and downed trees). I worked off my storm anxiety and cabin fever by neurotically cleaning the new house and by baking two peach pies. Somehow this works for me, don't ask me why. I'm never quite sure what to think in the wake of such events (i.e. the December tsunami). Clearly you can't place blame on terrorist for such natural disasters (although I wouldn't be suprised if the Bush administration attempts to). It is an act of God. If I believe that God is interacting throughout creation than I must believe that God brought this about. It's just hard to resolve when you really dwell on it. The loss of life always calls me to question the grace of God. It brings about the philosophical debate: "If God loves us, than why do bad things happen?" Although I know the theology of these questions, the Bible references, etc.....I still feel a little lost sometimes in the tradgedy of it all. Sorry to be such a bummer. Just thinking and blogging at the same time.