Kirk Cameron says Harvey and Irma are sent by God to call us to repentance. Jennifer Lawrence thinks the hurricanes are wrath by Mother Nature to punish Pres. Trump. In these storms that bring the best of us and the worst of us, I thought it is at least interesting that Christians and pagans agree that the storm is condemnation for our sins. I know some were hoping the storm would smash Mar-A -Lago, and even I admit I thought it would not be too bad if it creamed Castro’s palace in Cuba. I was just as wrong.
We want hurricanes to express our anger, our worldview.
But where is God in the hurricane?
My view is this: God is “in” the hurricane, but He didn’t send it. I believe the earth was made without mosquitos, earthquakes, hurricanes, and ticks.
When Adam and Eve committed treason, poison seeped into the soil. Thorns sprouted instead of fruit. And lions killed lambs. The gentle wind curled into fury. This earth is not the way it should be. We knew that when we were kids. Storms, nuclear threats and grandfathers dying are not right. Are these storms caused by our sin? Yes. Are they caused by the sins of Texans, Floridians or Trump? No.
People asked the same question when a tower fell on 18 people (Luke 13:3-4). “Did the freak accident happen to them because they were sinners?” Jesus said. “no” and added,
“And unless you repent, you will suddenly perish, too.” So, the storms do call all of us to repent, to repent from being judgmental, selfish and hard-hearted.
As I am writing this, our small apartment is in the predicted path of Irma. I pray and wonder if I pray for the storm to move away from our little home, will it roar over someone else’s home? So I pray for the Irma to calm down. Of course, that’s nuts to think our words can do anything, unless we believe Jesus calmed the storm and wondered why His disciples didn’t even try. There are so many variables in a storm that I cannot understand who, what or why. I pray to the water and the wind to shut up and hope my heart will be open to help. When you read this, I will know how our home fared. We will know how Irma hurt Florida.
But for now, we will not know much more than God is good and one day, hurricanes will perish like the water spiraling down the tub drain.
About Team McMillan:
In 1994, the McMillan family traveled to the kidnapping, murder, and drug capital of the western hemisphere to plant a church and a foundation. God thought Medellin, Colombia a good place to raise a family. And turns out He was right (as He usually is). It became a very large family: The church, Comunidad (Community), is now the largest church in Medellin with over 8,000 members, the Foundation, Viento Fresco, cares for over 150 high risk children, and a non-profit coffee shop, New Hearts Cafe, serves cups of caffeine and the love of Jesus to thousands of college students.
God is doing so much in Medellin, and we write about here on the Teammcmillan.orgblog!
- Do not forget to check out Andrew´s new book, The Safest Place on Earth,
- And think about supporting us and Mission South America via Paypal. (We need help)
TEAM MCMILLAN 
Great observations. After hurricane Andrew, a lady interviewed on TV commented. “Bad things happen, but God is good.” All too often, people fail to see the effects of sin and the devil for what they are.
So true Jane.