Disaster

First of all, my family and I are safe.

Hurricane Katrina has moved on and left a lot of destruction behind in my home State of Louisiana.

Last night my friends and I were playing games, even went swimming at 1 a.m., though monitoring the storm on T.V. In Baton Rouge, there was a little wind, a strong breeze, but nothing extraordinary. We all went to bed late, deciding nothing strong would happen. I slept most of the day away to awake to a call telling me that the rest of Baton Rouge was without power. I said, "Well, I see my roomate's over there on the internet!" Apparently, LSU is on generators or something so we've been the only ones with power.

Pieceing together what I've learned from T.V. and other sources, this could have been "much worse." Bad enough though. New Orleans could be without power for as much as 4 weeks, I've heard, with St. Tammany (where I live) for as much as 2 weeks. The massive Superdome of New Orleans had some of its roof ripped off. Certain areas of New Orleans are underwater. A levee collapsed, allowing water to pour in. Metairie was hit the hardest, with EJG Hospital's entire first floor flooded. My grandparents are miraculously alive after several oak trees in their front yard were knocked down, barely missing the house, else they would have been surely crushed. My mom and I had a somber conversation about home. Apart from a miracle, there's the possibility that our house is gone, because Slidell got hit the hardest. My family is in Memphis, Tennessee.

Here in Baton Rouge, it looks like we had some maybe Category 1 gale force winds because walking outside, I noticed downed trees, debris and a lot of other crap all over the roads and sidewalks. I just spoke to my friend while writing this. His power has been restored. Although his parents still don't, so they're cooking everything in the refrigerator before it spoils. LSU classes are, needless to say, closed again tomorrow.

My biggest concern is for my family and friends who live around Lake Pontchartrain. There's no telling how long it will be before my parents and siblings can return to even see if home is still there, as it's a disaster area. While we were sitting around Saturday night, my friend Zeke, in the Air Force Nat'l Guard, got activated, so he's assisting with disaster relief and such.

All in all, whatever happens, my family and friends are alive and very fortunate, very blessed by God. Still, many people I know will be very affected by this, for quite some time. This is only a small taste of the Biblical prophecy that "in the last days perilous times shall come."

But then take a look at Psalm 91.