Good for Evil (Hurricane Katrina)

© 2005 by Danna

The e-mail read, “Total devastation…everyone at Fire Department OK…Love, Pat.”

I was relieved just to get that much information from someone…anyone…after Hurricane Katrina struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The word came four days after landfall and my heart and mind were relieved to know that my friends were alive and well. I later learned from my pastor that everyone in my church had survived as well, although three families lost everything they owned. 

I can’t help but count myself as one of the blessed to have escaped this tragedy because I had moved north just the year before. I wondered why God had His hand of protection over me! If my husband hadn’t died suddenly which necessitated my move closer to my daughter, we both would have been there . . . both suffered as I know the whole Gulf Coast is suffering now.

My thoughts turned to the plea to evacuate that so many thousands ignored and so wrath was brought down around their heads. What would I have taken with me if I had to flee before the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina? 

·  All of my pictures and the oil painting done by my husband.

·  My important papers and insurance information.

·  My father’s violin and my husband’s grandfather’s pocket watch.

·  Clothes and toiletries.

As I gaze around my house, I see the temporal things that could and would have been left behind, material possessions that seem so valuable at one moment and so meaningless the next.

  

The forces of evil have been on assignment since the beginning of time to “kill, steal, and destroy.”  The news media helps them along reporting the worst of the worst which can annihilate hope just as much as Katrina. I know we will eventually hear of the miracles and testimonies of help and giving that is the spirit of the American people. God can take what Satan meant for evil and turn it for good. How, you might ask, can God bring good out of this evil situation? 

How many thousands may have been living a self-centered life, giving thought only to their own wants and desires? Put just one praying Christian in the midst that can share and display the love of God, issue hope and a future, and lead people to Christ. Watch lives transform and priorities change. When people have no place to go but to the Lord, they usually begin to do a heart examination and hopefully a dialog with God. The Holy Spirit makes good conversation at times like these and repentance is cleansing even when there is nothing but dirty water all around.

I do not want to hear any more of the destruction. I want to hear of the good things that come from desperate people. The stories are there, we just need to wait patiently for them to come forth.