Here we go again

I'm ready for a road trip.

This is a real danger signal for me. Road trips in the past have landed Danny and me in some interesting situations, up to and including a night in the Eureka, Nev., jail. (We weren't under arrest, it was considered "protective custody" as there had been trouble in the desert. And they needed to check with our home state to make sure we weren't runaways. In point of fact, we were -- though no one had bothered to report that fact. We were out on the street at first light.)

Road trip fever spells trouble. Especially troubling is the destination I have in mind. With all of the hurricanes that have wreaked havoc on the Florida coastlines this season, and with Ivan bearing down with a vengeance on the Gulf Coast, I've kind of got a hankering to feel the salt spray in my face, to feel the wind whip my hair around my face and to make a fashion statement with my as yet unpurchased yellow rain slicker.

My first taste of salt water was in the Gulf of Mexico in the late summer 1982. It was fantastic. Debi and I, in McAllen, Texas to help Mom following her mastectomy, stole a day and took the kids down to South Padre Island.

The power of the surf, which was mild that day according to the locals, was was awe inspiring. I simply stood, as best I could, to feel it sway me off my feet. Never a strong swimmer I would quickly find ground again to wait for the next wave. When Debi announced that it was time for us to get the sand rinsed off and head back to McAllen, I wanted more than anything to stomp my feet like a two-year-old and insist that we stay right where we were, forever.

For this trip, I'm trying to talk the whole newsroom crew into going along for the ride. As none of us has a vehicle worthy of such a long road trip, we're trying to figure out how to get a car. I suppose we could go down to a local dealer and arrange for a test drive ...

Of course, if I talk everyone into going, you won't know about it because there'll be no newspaper delivery -- there'll be no newspaper to be delivered.

Not to worry. My persuasive skills reached their peak in the eighth grade when I instigated North Arvada Junior High's first walk-out April 22, 1970. No doubt, I'll be at my desk, reading wire stories and combing the AP photo site for the most compelling shot of Ivan as he makes landfall and brings yet more heartache to the coastline of our continent.

Still, I'd like to see it for myself.

Oh, but the wonder of God's creation, the power found in nature, the blessings and the curses found in each storm. Would that we could find a way to funnel some of that excess moisture inland to our own dry and drier still landscape. Not very likely.

It is an unusually active hurricane season in the western hemisphere. Both the North Atlantic and the Eastern Pacific, named storms have already reached the letters I and J. Ivan, of course, originating in the North Atlantic, now making his way into the Gulf of Mexico, and Tropical Storm Jeanne just forming out in the same open waters that spawned Ivan. In the Pacific, they are contending with Hurricane Javier and Tropical Storm Isis. Hurricane season continues well into November, if I recall correctly. At this rate, meteorologists may have to add middle names before all is said and done.

It seems I have a bird's eye view on the windows opening around the world thanks to the Internet and other technologies. Late last week I was perusing the AP photos available for reprint on the international wire. There in the midst of wars, famine and natural disasters were pictures of a royal couple at their wedding. I am not an end-times prophet. I do not pretend to predict end times and would not put my hand to such a task. It is far beyond my intellectual ability. However, I do believe the promised return will certainly occur. As I looked through the photos, I could not help but recall the words of my Lord, "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." (Matthew 24:37-39)

Some might say that the increase in storms is a sign of present judgement and of judgements yet to come. It may well be. After all, God is sovereign over the wind and the rain, and he is able to calm the wildest storm. (Most often, however, I've found, he calms his child, in the midst of the most violent storms.)

So, as wars and rumors of wars abound, as persecutions increase, as nature itself groans as does a woman giving birth, as we wait expectantly for that which is yet to come, be calm and unafraid, and resolute and obedient to the faith, remembering, -- "Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour." (Matthew 25:13)