Not again...

Last week was a long and wet one as Hurricane Gustav brought the entire state of Arkansas three-and-a-half days of wind and steady to torrential rain. Parts of the state suffered flooding. Many trees fell over - their roots are used to summer droughts and could not withstand over 7 inches of rain in such a short time. Last Thursday as I was driving home with the windshield wipers on high-speed, I noticed that the wiper on the passenger side was no longer moving. Thankfully it was the passenger side and the wiper in front of me was still working fine. It has been a great dry week and today the car is going in the shop to get that fixed.

So all week, all eyes have been on Hurricane Ike as it passed over Cuba on its way to Texas. The Holiday Inn (where I work) is filling up with smart evacuees who are taking no chances and fleeing now before it is too late. The biggest news in Arkansas today (besides remembering 9/11) is that the Razorbacks football game in Texas on Saturday has been postponed for 2 weeks (no big deal and I could really care less - of course, the only real football to me is the NFL). Now the latest track shows Ike hitting Galveston, Houston, and then heading right into Arkansas sometime Sunday. Reading stories of the great storm make me wonder why hurricanes have a place in the world God created. So just when I am forgetting about last week's rain, here it comes again...

I hate the fact that I am so moody when it comes to the weather. I hate when rain lasts more than a few hours. Summertime is great because of the longer, sunny days (best time of the year!). The days are becoming shorter and before long it will be back to driving to and from work in the dark :(

Regardless of what the weather may do, I realize that many things are more important than how I feel and what I think about the weather. As long it is just rain, a tree does not fall on the house, the roof isn't leaking (it was, but has been fixed), and family members (here and around the country) are safe, that's what really matters. We are so blessed and have it very easy - Baton Rouge has not been in the news, but they were devastated from Hurricane Gustav (worst in over 20 years). A sister-church of ours, http://www.healingplacechurch.org/, has been working around the clock to bring relief to victims of the hurricane. Their pastor, Dino Rizzo, was scheduled to speak on Sunday during our church's grand opening weekend, but instead will be staying in Louisiana to continue working with the relief efforts. Following their situation via websites, blogs and Twitter makes me so thankful and helps me realize that a little rain might not be so bad...