Thoughts on Katrina

I've been postponing this entry for quite a while now, mainly because, criticism in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe like the one we experienced with Hurricane Katrina is simply not empathetic. That being said, I feel that sufficient time has passed to allow me to offer a few thoughts and comments on the matter. The second comment will be a bit more serious than the first, and is related to our relationship with God and what we expect from Him (as people, as believers, as Christians, etc.)

The first, however, is simply a story that I found flew directly in the face of common sense and made me really question the connection that some people have with reality. In the "aftermath" (a word which I despise as a mathematician, and self-appointed logistician, because it sheds a rather dark and dismal light on the practice of logical analysis) of hurricane Katrina, one new station was doing a special where they came back to New Orleans with families who had evacuated and filmed them as they took account of the devastation that Katrina had imparted on their lives.

One story aroused in me a state of "shock and awe" (in the parlance of our times). One woman returned to location where her house once existed, and was dismayed that she was unable to find her wedding ring amidst the rubble. Prior to evacuating she had, she explained, taken her ring off and placed it on top of her tallest dresser, reasoning that "the water wouldn't get it there." This amazed me...you are leaving, and yet you place your ring on top of a dresser for "safe keeping" as it were. Why not keep it on your finger? This seems like a much safer place for it, ya know, since you're leaving and all. Ok, that's all I have to say about that (you can fill in the rest).

Now for part B, our relationship with God in regards to this whole disaster. By now most people have heard the stories...Some Christians were praying that God would spare the city of New Orleans from the Hurricane, that he would help to make the dams strong. Others (Pat Robertson) were praying that the Hurricane would hit New Orleans, and rain down righteous retribution on the den of iniquity, and haven for homosexuals, prostitutes, and the dreaded French-American (the likes of which hadn't been seen since Sodom and Gomorrah). Some of those who stayed behind and refused to evacuate the city said that they were waiting for a "sign from God" that trouble was coming, or that they trusted God would save them from suffering.

My response to all of this is simple. I believe that, on the whole, God works in subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) ways. Let's presume for just a second that the Bible is a synopsis of the "big stuff" God has done since the beginning of human history (creation, transfiguration, incarnation, reincarnation, pillars of salt or smoke, burning bushes, sight to the blind, etc etc etc). It comes to a few thousand pages (many of which were spent on tracing David's lineage back to Adam). I don't presume for a second that for the remainder of human history God has been inactive, but perhaps more subtle. Maybe God's messengers aren't always profits with mystical powers and visions of the promised land. Maybe sometimes God sends a weatherman. And that weatherman says, "hey y'all, a big one's comin', ya might wanna leave--I know I am." Is it so hard to believe that the weatherman is speaking God's message, that the map of the enormous hurricane is a "vision from God"? Sure it's subtle, it's secular, it's obvious and blunt. But maybe that's the point.

It's not always big and obvious when God sends a message, most of the time it's subtle. The voice of God isn't always loud and booming. Sometimes (most of the time) it's your mom telling you to be careful walking home, it's a friend telling you everything will be alright after you've had your heart broken, or it's a weatherman telling you to "Get the hell out of New Orleans!!"