Alright, boys and girls, here we go again. Hurricane season is upon us and we must make crucial decisions. Go or stay. Wait or hurry. Pack or throw together. Panic or stay calm.
I have lived in the Charleston, SC area for 14 years now. I have watched hurricanes pass by, pass through, and weaken. I have seen them strengthen and enlarge. I have watched hours and hours of preparations being made, only for it to miss what was forecast. I get it. You can't predict it. God knows where it will go. He knows how fast and hard those winds will take it. He gives and takes away. So why do we panic? We panic because we don't know. We don't choose to trust. We don't have faith that the least likely predication of going out to see will actually be what happens. Why should we? We have been shown over and over again that the storms can come in and destroy all we know and love. So we scurry around filling gas tanks and buying all the water we can see. We book hotel rooms hours away - praying that the storm doesn't turn and then trap us in that hotel while our homes are perfectly safe and sound. Then we worry that we're being looted. (Thank God I have nothing of value to loot!) Every time a storm comes our way I have this incredible sense of peace. I'm not quite sure what it is. I don't know if it's my built in trigger of fight or flight, and since I can't fight I choose not to let it have power over me. Maybe it's the knowledge that people around me need peace and so I carry it. Sure I follow the weather. Yes, I check to see the paths. I want to be knowledgeable. Shouldn't we all want that? But over and over and over again I see people panic. What is the point? What gain have we by panicking? Where does worry leave us? I know that what I say will be of no use to those who worry over natural disasters. Don't tell someone to calm down in the midst of emotions. But to my fellow calm, cool, collected people, we must continue to keep the peace. There must be order in one way or another. If I could be honest with you, I would tell you that I don't want to evacuate ever. Now, that's not to say I want my family here. If this thing takes a path that is coming for us, get out. Get out now. No questions asked. Go to Tennessee and enjoy a vacation. Ok. Don't do that. I want to go, too. But not during a storm. I want to be here. If the roof gets ripped off and the water heater (which is in our attic) gets blown over and five rooms are destroyed by that, if the rain comes in, if flood waters rise, I want to know. I want to see it first hand and combat it as quickly as possible. I don't want to drive hours away to "be safe" and come back to a disaster area. I don't want to spend those days wondering what my house looks like or wondering what caused the destruction. I want to know. It comes back to that knowledge thing. I'm calm, because I'm in the know. Maybe I'm crazy. That's ok. But I hope that in my time of peace and acceptance that a storm is on it's way and that I have zero control over it will encourage others to stay calm as well. God has all things in his hands. Even the devastation of losing a home. May it not come to be.
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May 2023
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