Tropical Storm Fay Was Like Pandora’s Box

Monday, Labor Day, Hurricane Gustav sideswiped New Orleans as two million people evacuated. Early estimates of property damage run to millions of dollars.

Here in Jacksonville Ginny and I spent the three-day holiday weekend picking up debris from Tropical Storm Fay which swept through here last week. We also prepared for Hurricane Hanna which is predicted to hit here next weekend.

Minimal damage.

That’s what the tv weathermen said about Fay.

These guys were not helping pick up storm trash blown down in our yard.

Minimal damage indeed!

City garbage men have dy hauled away one load of our storm debris; but here is a photo of the pile at our curb right now:

I hauled all that out to the curb myself.

Boy, does my back hurt from all that bending over and lifting.

However, Fay left behind more than broken branches and withered leaves. Like Pandora’s Box or Noah’s Flood, after all the trouble and mess, Fay also left behind a sort of rainbow or message of hope. You see, all the rain Fay dropped caused our dozens and dozens of bromeliads to bloom like crazy. Here’s a photo of a few at our front door:

Trouble and trash and aching back followed by hope and promise and beauty—Like it’s God’s pattern.

Hurricane Hanna looks to be more serious than Fay; they predict it will arrive here by next Friday or Saturday, so during our devotions tonight Ginny prayed that we might have trust during all the upsetting and threatening storm news.

After her amen, I said, “Your prayer didn’t work. My back still hurts”.

“What does your back hurting have to do with my praying for trust,” she said.

“Weren’t you praying for me to get a truss so my back wouldn’t ache so much”?

“Lord, she said, “If You want to hit him with a bolt of lightening, wait just a minute”.

She walked to the other side of the kitchen and said, “OK, Lord, I’m far enough away now. Feel free to zap him”.