How did you fare during Hurricane Irene? At our homestead, we fared the storm rather well. We still have not gotten around to picking up the storm debris as of the time I am sitting and writing this, but we will soon. Oddly enough, the yard at the house next to mine, which normally looks like it is owned by Herman Munster, looks better than mine. The house has been abandoned for years and the town regularly has to enforce the tall grass ordinance upon its owners, but a work crew came out just after the storm.
We have family and friends closer to the coast that had some flooding and power loss. I have family in New England that saw a lot of tree limbs down. I have a friend in New York state that had his entire house flooded up to the second floor, and he lost his car to Irene, as well. The Northeast is often prepared for blizzard conditions in the winter but is rarely prepared for events such as the recent earthquake and hurricane. Irene was just a category one storm when it hit North Carolina and moved up the eastern seaboard, but it still dropped a lot of rain and destruction in its path.
Long before hurricane season, we discussed purchasing a generator for emergency power. Just before the storm was coming, I found a decent price on a small generator that would have been more than sufficient to power my freezer and refrigerator. It figures that when I went back to the store, the only one left had been sold. Oh, well. Fortunately for us, we never lost electricity, telephone, cable television, or internet. We were able to keep in touch with others and current conditions.
The county’s Code Red system even called us when there were flash flood warnings issued. If you have not signed up for the county’s emergency telephone notification system, you can do so free of charge. Just go to the county’s web site and look for the Code Red logo. I was on the Local Emergency Management Planning Committee when this system was demonstrated for the county. It seemed to work well and should be able to suit our needs. It is a service provided at taxpayer expense, so it is not in reality “free” but it costs no extra money for us citizens to make use of it. If we are paying for it, we might as well use it. No offense to Greg Fishel and WRAL, but if the county is going to pay for an emergency service, I doubt I am going to pay to subscribe to another service.
Now there is yet another tropical depression that could become named storm number 12 and is predicted to come towards the east coast. As the east coast recovers from the Carolinas to Canada, I can only hope and pray for those who have suffered loss. There is that and I can help financially as I am able. I encourage you to do the same. My employer has set up a donation fund I am going to investigate. There are also some reputable charities out there that can take donations. Americans are some of the most generous people on the planet. We reach out to help earthquake and tsunami victims on the other side of the globe. We also tend to help our own. According to the CIA’s own web site, 76.8% of Americans are identified as professing Christianity. I tend to think that has something to do with the charitable ethos.
I have to be honest in that I don’t always understand God’s ways. I figure that I am not supposed to, since his ways and thoughts are higher than mine (Isaiah 55:9). I know of theological schools of thought that believe that God sends every hurricane. I know other opposing views that storms like this are of Satanic origin. I suspect that the truth is probably somewhere between the Calvinist and the hard core Arminian beliefs. I do know that God sends rain on both the just and the unjust alike and that the winds and the waves can obey His command. Does He give the command for tropical storms to develop? I have to be honest and say that I don’t have the answer to that question, but one day I hope to have an answer. What I do know is that I am thankful for God’s provision, the life that He has given, the tribulations that make us stronger, for the family he has given me, and the shelter he has provided from the storms of life, both material and metaphorical. May we all reflect upon God’s mercy and grace and be thankful for what we do have.
Showing posts with label calvinism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label calvinism. Show all posts
Thursday, September 01, 2011
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Column for March 11, 2010
As a parent of a young child, I get a lot of questions. "What?" and "Why?" questions abound. If my seven-year-old would only be able to ask "Who?", "Where?", and "When?", perhaps he could be drafted to be a reporter for The Selma News.
I have a lot of questions of my own. I have things I want to ask God when I see him face to face since He has not chosen to answer them for me here on Earth, in His Bible, or through other people. I have a lot of questions I would like to ask others, some of which are very private, others not so much. I got to thinking about some of the questions I would like to ask. Here are just some of them.
1. I would like to ask Barack Obama if he was allegedly a constitutional scholar and professor, why does he attempt so many things that he should know are totally against the Constitution of the United States?
2. I would like to ask the English as a Second Language class (ESL) candidates in front of me at the Wal-Mart check out if they can comprehend the sign that says "20 Items or Less"?
3. I would like to ask the check out lady at Wal-Mart why she lets potential ESL students violate the 20 item principle?
4. I would like to ask the same ESL couple dressed in designer, name brand (I read the obvious labels) clothes that paid for some groceries with a WIC voucher and then whipped out a one hundred dollar bill from a stack of money to pay for the rest of their groceries why they deem it appropriate for taxpayers to pay for their groceries when they obviously have the means to do so themselves?
5. I want to ask some child abusers I know that if I stop beating them violently about the face and head, will they stop beating their children?
6. I want to ask Fox Networks and 19 Productions what they were thinking when they hired Ellen DeGeneres to be a judge on "American Idol"?
7. I want to ask gun control advocates what part of "shall not be infringed" don't they understand?
8. I want to ask those same gun control advocates how they plan on defending themselves against criminals when police officers are not around, when 911 response time is more than it takes to rob and kill them, and criminals who disregard such laws are armed?
9. I also want to ask those same gun control advocates that if people kill other people with baseball bats and cars, why they don't try to ban people from driving to the sporting goods store?
10. I want to ask extremist Muslim leaders that recruit and encourage young Muslim followers to blow themselves up and hopefully kill others in the process that if the rewards for doing so are so great and the action so noble, why they don't lead by example?
11. I want to ask credit card companies if their customers can not afford to pay the minimum balance, what makes them think that customers would then be able to pay the full balance as demanded when they get behind in their bills? Not that I have this problem, but it makes me wonder.
12. I want to ask Congress and the State Legislature if we citizens have to abide by a budget and can not afford to spend money, why they think that they can do so ad infinitum?
13. When my seven-month-old gets to be about ten years old, I want to ask him what he was trying to say when he made all sorts of cute baby sounds?
14. I want to ask God what useful purpose cicadas serve?
15. I want to ask Calvinist theologians why they think that their views are predestined and those of Arminians are not, since that would directly contradict that doctrine? If Arminians are predestined to not believe in predestination, does that negate the accuracy of the predestination position? Was I predestined to ask that question or did I do so of my own free will?
16. I want to ask Al Gore if he actually still believes in global warming and if he thinks that we are all really that stupid?
I still have a ton of questions. I have too many to type for this one column. I literally think of things like this as I drive around town or to work, and
while trying to fall asleep at night. Perhaps I need to keep my voice recorder or a notepad with me at all times so that I can make note of all such questions in the future.
I have a lot of questions of my own. I have things I want to ask God when I see him face to face since He has not chosen to answer them for me here on Earth, in His Bible, or through other people. I have a lot of questions I would like to ask others, some of which are very private, others not so much. I got to thinking about some of the questions I would like to ask. Here are just some of them.
1. I would like to ask Barack Obama if he was allegedly a constitutional scholar and professor, why does he attempt so many things that he should know are totally against the Constitution of the United States?
2. I would like to ask the English as a Second Language class (ESL) candidates in front of me at the Wal-Mart check out if they can comprehend the sign that says "20 Items or Less"?
3. I would like to ask the check out lady at Wal-Mart why she lets potential ESL students violate the 20 item principle?
4. I would like to ask the same ESL couple dressed in designer, name brand (I read the obvious labels) clothes that paid for some groceries with a WIC voucher and then whipped out a one hundred dollar bill from a stack of money to pay for the rest of their groceries why they deem it appropriate for taxpayers to pay for their groceries when they obviously have the means to do so themselves?
5. I want to ask some child abusers I know that if I stop beating them violently about the face and head, will they stop beating their children?
6. I want to ask Fox Networks and 19 Productions what they were thinking when they hired Ellen DeGeneres to be a judge on "American Idol"?
7. I want to ask gun control advocates what part of "shall not be infringed" don't they understand?
8. I want to ask those same gun control advocates how they plan on defending themselves against criminals when police officers are not around, when 911 response time is more than it takes to rob and kill them, and criminals who disregard such laws are armed?
9. I also want to ask those same gun control advocates that if people kill other people with baseball bats and cars, why they don't try to ban people from driving to the sporting goods store?
10. I want to ask extremist Muslim leaders that recruit and encourage young Muslim followers to blow themselves up and hopefully kill others in the process that if the rewards for doing so are so great and the action so noble, why they don't lead by example?
11. I want to ask credit card companies if their customers can not afford to pay the minimum balance, what makes them think that customers would then be able to pay the full balance as demanded when they get behind in their bills? Not that I have this problem, but it makes me wonder.
12. I want to ask Congress and the State Legislature if we citizens have to abide by a budget and can not afford to spend money, why they think that they can do so ad infinitum?
13. When my seven-month-old gets to be about ten years old, I want to ask him what he was trying to say when he made all sorts of cute baby sounds?
14. I want to ask God what useful purpose cicadas serve?
15. I want to ask Calvinist theologians why they think that their views are predestined and those of Arminians are not, since that would directly contradict that doctrine? If Arminians are predestined to not believe in predestination, does that negate the accuracy of the predestination position? Was I predestined to ask that question or did I do so of my own free will?
16. I want to ask Al Gore if he actually still believes in global warming and if he thinks that we are all really that stupid?
I still have a ton of questions. I have too many to type for this one column. I literally think of things like this as I drive around town or to work, and
while trying to fall asleep at night. Perhaps I need to keep my voice recorder or a notepad with me at all times so that I can make note of all such questions in the future.
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