Irene

This morning I have been watching the weather channel with regards to hurricane Irene's expected path.  Most of my extended family is in the path labeled, "extreme".  My mother whose name was Irene, loved tracking hurricanes.  Each storm season she kept a small hurricane tracking chart that she ordered from someplace, right next to her chair.  She would update the hurricanes location each evening when the weatherman would give the latitude and longitude of a storm.  Before a store arrived, when the waves were big, we would drive the short distance to the beach and watch the big waves roll in.   She would love the excitement associated with this storm.  Of course she understood the serious aspect of hurricanes but there is always some kind of excitement with New England storms, the preparing for them and the unknown.   We humans are a strange lot at times.
My prayers are with all those in the path of Irene.  This year has been one of strange weather.   Our summer has been horrific.  Record breaking heat and drought.  Ranchers are going under one after another.   There was no garden for us this year, and we have lost so many plants and trees.   I am so thankful we are not living in a time when we must depend on our garden for our food.  We would have starved.   I cannot help but think that God is trying to get our attention, showing us we are not in control.  God is merciful and compassionate, but He also wants us to acknowledge Him and walk in His ways, yet without being judge and jury on those that do not.   That is His job, thankfully !
Isaiah 25:4 You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm


My sister Sandy holding Melissa in the fall of 1981 watching the waves from a storm.  Winthrop MA