I lived in Florida for 10 years.  I was there for  Charley, which didn’t really affect us in Jacksonville except to knock out power, and, I was there when Katrina came through. That one didn’t really affect Jacksonville too badly either.

Irma’s strength, size, and path threaten to do great damage to a lot of the state. Then it seems it will sweep over South Georgia and maybe South Carolina too. And it will probably continue to affect Tennessee and other states as a tropical storm.

I hate this time of year. I watched in horror as some of my family and friends in Houston and Baytown were devastated by flood waters brought by Hurricane Harvey. I lived in Baytown for 24 years and never knew that Houston or Baytown could experience such flooding.

 So hurricanes are freaking scary. I am praying for friends in Florida, the Virgin Isles, and Puerto Rico, and people I don’t know on islands I know nothing about. Mexico has been hit by hurricane/tropical storm Katia, and then experienced an 8.1 magnitude earthquake yesterday. So there are quite a few areas in need of prayer and whatever assistance the rest of the world can offer.

Hopefully, we won’t have too many more storms this season. Hopefully, people will be able to rebuild their homes. However, I know that a lot of them will not be able to do so. They will lose everything.

May they/we find the grace to move forward; the grace to help one another and grow closer as a one people in the world.