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Pray Florida!

All 67 counties in Florida are in a declared state of emergency by Gov. Ron DeSantis as of Thursday as hurricane Dorian rages, building strength, toward her East coast.   Some believe Dorian may hit Florida as a category 4 storm on Monday.   If so, it will be the strongest to affect the state in nearly three decades. As Florida residents prepare, the rest of us must preprayer on their behalf.

Our Father, Creator and LORD of the heavens and the earth: All elements of nature obey Your command. We know that we cannot control the oceans, move the mountains, nor calm the weather without Your running interference on our behalf.   While on earth, You saved Your disciples from injury or death in the storm with Your Word for it to be still.  Therefore we humbly ask, as hurricane Dorian approaches land that You weaken her power while protecting all in her path. Watch over everyone, their loved ones, friends, many of whom are preparing to evacuate.  Shield them as they make ready. Give them strength, courage, and determination to face these uncertain events. Answer their prayers and ours that they be blessed with good, and be free from injury or loss of home.  Help us all to remain safe in Your shelter, and to be grateful for all You do for us.  In Jesus Name we Pray On! Amen

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Fiday Update:

After Dorian rips Bahamas, St. John’s, St. Ben’s students rally

51 MINUTES AGO
Amid their studies in Minnesota, their thoughts are with loved ones at home in the Bahamas.

Thursday Midday Update:

Tornadoes hit Carolinas as Hurricane Dorian floods Charleston; 200K without power
A reinvigorated Hurricane Dorian roared toward the Carolinas on Thursday, bringing tropical storm conditions along the South Carolina coast and flooding in Charleston, along with the threat of tornadoes across the region, including northward into North Carolina.

Read in Fox News: https://apple.news/AVSyfAyRTT96xxi2zTBsB-g

Shared from Apple News

Thursday Morning Update:

Dorian, back to a Category 3 hurricane, creeps up U.S. coast

5:04AM
Hurricane Dorian , back to a Category 3 storm, began raking the Southeast U.S. seaboard early Thursday and left tens of thousands without power as it threatened to inundate low-lying coasts from Georgia to Virginia with a life-threatening storm surge after its deadly mauling of the Bahamas.

Wednesday Morning Update:

Bahamians begin rescues as Dorian moves on toward U.S.

1 MINUTE AGO
Bahamians rescued victims of Hurricane Dorian with jet skis and a bulldozer as the U.S. Coast Guard, Britain’s Royal Navy and a handful of aid groups tried to get food and medicine to survivors and take the most desperate people to safety.
September 4, 2019  |  READ TIME: 5 minutes
In The Daily Article today:
  • Why some are not evacuating ahead of the hurricane
  • C. S. Lewis on war (and hurricanes)
  • An ancient Christian custom with transforming potential
Hurricane Dorian turned north overnight and is about one hundred miles off of Florida’s east coast this morning. At least seven people were killed in the Bahamas; dozens are still being rescued from floodwaters.The Category 2 storm, with winds of 110 mph, is lashing central Florida’s east coast today. Flash floods and a life-threatening storm surge are expected. More than two million people in Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina have been warned to evacuate.

Not everyone is leaving, however. Employees of the Hunkerdown Hideaway in downtown Cocoa Beach, Florida, vow to remain open “till the police shut us down.” Some say that the expense of evacuating and the income they would miss make leaving almost impossible for them.

Their dilemma could be solved if they knew where (or if) the hurricane would strike land. It’s an astounding fact in our day of remarkable technological sophistication that such vital and practical information is unavailable to those who need it most.

How many people work for the National Weather Service?

Our problem is not that our best people aren’t doing their best. The National Weather Service employs 2,600 operational meteorologists and hydrologists; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2019 budget exceeds $5 billion.

And yet, using the most advanced technology in history, our best meteorological scientists are still unable to predict the precise path of a hurricane. The consequences of this fact are staggering.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates government costs for hurricanes at $28 billion a year. Coastal shoreline counties generate 40 percent of America’s jobs and are responsible for 46 percent of our gross domestic product.

Clearly, our best experts are doing all they can. But their limits show us our own.

“Life has never been normal”

Researchers predict that cancer will become the leading cause of death in the US by next year. And yet the National Cancer Institute’s budget for this year is $5.74 billion. As the father of a cancer survivor and the son of a cancer victim, I wish it were more.

My point is that disasters and diseases demonstrate the finitude of fallen humans.

We can do so much more in the world than ever before. For instance, distributing this article without email would require $90,000 in postage and would render today’s column outdated by the time it arrived in your physical mailbox.

But the issues that matter most are beyond our capacity to influence or even predict. I don’t know if I’ll be alive to write Thursday’s Daily Article; you don’t know if you’ll be alive to read it if I do.

In this sense, the unpredictability and devastation of Hurricane Dorian is nothing new on our fallen planet. What C. S. Lewis said of war can be said of a hurricane: It “creates no absolutely new situation; it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. . . . We are mistaken when we compare war with ‘normal life.’ Life has never been normal.”

“The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”

When we face a foe stronger than we are, it’s wise to trust in a power stronger than it is.

Scripture says of the Lord: “It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth” (Jeremiah 10:12–13).

When Jesus “rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’” here’s what happened: “The wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39). The God who parted the Red Sea and stopped the flooded Jordan River is more powerful than Dorian or any other disaster.

Of course, it’s human nature to ask why this omnipotent God didn’t stop Dorian from devastating the Bahamas. When our son was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, I asked the Lord why he didn’t answer my daily prayers for Ryan’s health. Eventually, I came to peace with the fact we discussed yesterday: my fallen mind cannot comprehend God’s “higher” thoughts and ways (Isaiah 55:8–9), so turning from my Father when I need him most only makes suffering worse.

For today, let’s consider that the unpredictability and danger of natural disasters and diseases should remind us daily of our frailty and limitations. The more advanced our technology becomes, the more tempting our hubris.

“Living your life as an offering of thanksgiving”

What Hurricane Dorian does this week is beyond our control. But how we respond to that fact is not.

When we remember that this world is not our home and that all we “own” actually belongs to the One who made it, we are free to live for heaven on earth and trust the results to our Father.

Curtis Almquist of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist offers this advice: “All the things which you could call your ‘possessions’—both the tangible and the intangible—give them up. I’m not saying to disregard or devalue them; quite to the contrary, I’m speaking of ‘giving them up’ like an offering, acknowledging to God how God has acknowledged you in them. In the ancient vocabulary of the church, this is called ‘an ablation,’ living your life as an offering of thanksgiving.”

Will you offer your ablation to God today?

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‘Total devastation’: Hurricane slams parts of the Bahamas

Relief officials reported scenes of utter ruin Tuesday in parts of the Bahamas and rushed to deal with an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, the most powerful storm on record ever to hit the islands. At least seven deaths were reported, with the full scope of the disaster still unknown.

Tuesday Evening Update:

‘Total devastation’: Hurricane slams parts of the Bahamas

9 MINUTES AGO
Relief officials reported scenes of utter ruin Tuesday in parts of the Bahamas and rushed to deal with an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, the most powerful storm on record ever to hit the islands. At least five deaths were reported, with the full scope of the disaster still unknown.

Monday Update:

Dorian pounds relentlessly at desperate Bahamas

8 MINUTES AGO
Hurricane Dorian came to a catastrophic daylong halt over the northwest Bahamas, flooding the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama with walls of water that lapped into the second floors of buildings, trapped people in attics and drowned the Grand Bahama airport under 6 feet of water.

DORIAN TRIGGERS MASSIVE FLOODING; 5 DEAD

Hurricane Dorian unleashed massive flooding across the Bahamas on Monday, pummeling the islands with so much wind and water that authorities urged people to find floatation devices and grab hammers to break out of their attics if necessary. At least five deaths were blamed on the storm.

Sunday Update:

Dorian strikes Bahamas with record fury as Category 5 storm

49 MINUTES AGO
Hurricane Dorian struck the northern Bahamas as a catastrophic Category 5 storm Sunday, its record 185 mph (297 kph) winds ripping off roofs, overturning cars and tearing down power lines as hundreds hunkered down in schools, churches and shelters.

Fierce Hurricane Dorian now threatens wider stretch of U.S.
Hurricane Dorian slogged toward the Bahamas and Florida as a fierce Category 4 storm and threatened a widening stretch of the southeastern U.S.

Read in The Wall Street Journal: https://apple.news/AYR-c-6sNQ1SqMkTBh7HRvg

Shared from Apple News

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Saturday Update:

Hurricane Dorian strengthens, shifts toward Carolinas as Florida is forecast to avoid direct hit
“There’s been a notable change overnight to the forecast of Dorian after Tuesday,” the National Hurricane Center said on Twitter.

Read in NBC News: https://apple.news/AsoToFPeAQc-j3AgIFrmrgw

Shared from Apple News

Hurricane Dorian strengthens to “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm
Hurricane Dorian became a potentially devastating Category 4 storm on Friday evening as it continued to churn in the Atlantic on its course toward Florida.

Read in NBC News: https://apple.news/A1EZgXKLrSLWciOxJ3UHdbg

Shared from Apple News

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