Residents Loot Instead Of Thanking God

I am going to post some of my "inside thoughts" about New Orleans here. If you don't agree, please just ignore me. If you do agree, please just pray accordingly.

In the early hours of the hurricane, before it hit Florida and while it was still pretty harmless, I thought to myself, what if this one becomes the "big one?" We have all been expecting the "big one" for some time. Somehow hurricanes "feel" like the judgment of God and God's judgment is long overdue. He still sits in heaven and is over all of the affairs of man.

When I awoke the next morning and realized that the hurricane was a category 5, I sensed the presence of God. When I saw it take direct aim on New Orleans I began to pray. I knew that the city was very unprotected. I know only a few people in New Orleans and I asked for their protection. But as I prayed I felt that the Lord was moving me in earnest to pray for Him to relent and turn the full fury of the storm. To give mercy.

I even posted this "turn" in prayer to my blog hoping others would join in. When I went to bed I was apprehensive. When I awoke, I was overjoyed to see that God had directed the hurricane to the east just a little and at the last moment. I had been especially concerned for the people in the football dome. If the storm came at full fury and hit that dome I was not sure it would stand. And it was full of people. The poor and the lame.

The small diversion of the storm sent it up over Mississippi and Mobile, Gulfport, and other cities were now in its path, but it had dropped to a category 3.

I thanked God for His mercy and wondered at His unfailing love. What had seemed to be a disaster of the worst proportion had been mitigated and was dying out. But then the reports of looting broke out. Instead of all of New Orleans stopping and taking a breath and thanking their merciful God for His grace, the people broke out of their houses and began looting other abandoned homes and businesses. This was a symptom of why God allowed the hurricane in the first place and it was the cause of the current misery of flooding.

That the dikes held at all was amazing but now the increased pressure on the system finally brought about a breach. The levee broke and the pumps could no longer keep up. The depravity of man brought about its own destruction. All of New Orleans is under water. The power is out. Lawlessness is in the streets. Disease is next. This is not over.

It is hard to get good photos of what is going on right now but you can see some of the photos at WWLTV a local news station. Click on their "Katrina streaming video" area and specifically on the second link "aerial photos" The whole city is under water. Tomorrow it will be a giant stagnant pond with floating debris and coffins. A toxic mix of disaster. And the waters have nowhere to go. One Parrish (county) is demanding that residents stay out at least the next 30 days.

The levee burst in one location and they hope to plug it with some huge one ton sand bags but it is a break of over 200 feet. First the levee has to be plugged and then the water has to be pumped out. This could take weeks. In the meantime, people everywhere have been forced to live in their attics.

Please pray for New Orleans. There are many believers in the midst of the depravity. There is opportunity for revival or disaster of the worst proportions.