Dale Ridge church of Christ

           The last few weeks have proven to be anything but uneventful.  Wall Street has undergone a more than half a trillion dollar bail out, and Hurricane Ike has left his path of destruction.  Many are just returning home to the Galveston area to find if they have any remaining belongings and if their houses remain intact. 

One troubling aspect of this natural disaster was the reports of the high numbers of individuals who made the decision to disregard the warnings to leave the area.   Numerous warnings were given stating specifically that those that chose not to leave would face certain death from this category 2 hurricane.   Sadly, it was estimated that some  20,000 people decided to stay.  These individuals were willing to take their chances.

Some who had decided to stay were encouraged in the final moments to leave.  One group of rescuers reported that as their boat past by one house, they asked the people if they wanted to leave. They at first said, “No.”  But after being told by the rescue team to write their names and social security numbers on their arms, they had a serious change of mind and thankfully left with them. 

One man reported that he stayed with his children through the first part of the storm.  However, after the water rose up to 4 feet in their one-floor house and after his children told him they were going to mark their arms with their names and other details with a permanent marker, he changed his mind.  During the lull of the storm when the eye passed over, he put his children in their boat in the middle of the night and got them to safety.

 As those in south Texas heard recent warnings of the possibility facing certain death, there is also a warning that is heralded out to all people (2 Peter 3:10).  The decision that many made to stay in an area in the path of a storm like Ike is a foolish one to make.  Some sadly lost their lives as a result.  An even more foolish decision to make is to leave the Gospel call unheeded (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9; Matthew 25:1-13).  The question that all need to ask is how are we going to answer that call (Acts 17:31)?

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Filed under: Devotional, Michael Carter on September 22nd, 2008