Gustav and crying wolf

of course everyone remembers the devastating effects of Katrina and Rita a couple years ago... the decimation visited on the residents of coastal Mississippi and Louisiana was unbelievable!

One of the biggest reasons these storms had such a terrible outcome was what I call the 'cry wolf' factor. See, for years, the meteorologists had predicted, time and again, a 'perfect storm' type of event which would - according to their prediction models - wipe out the geographical 'soup bowl' which is New Orleans and all the surrounding low-lying areas...

and, time and again, people would go out to Lowe's and buy $500 worth of lumber and supplies and board up every window and evacuate and all the other stuff that goes with that and... nothing really happened!

So, time and again, frustrated residents would return to their homes and 'unboard' them and curse the idiots on TV who had caused them to prepare for nothing...

Well, for the years leading up to Katrina, many residents had long since stopped listening to the forecasters... they would ride it out and then make fun of the forecasters....

until Katrina.

this past weekend, as Gustav roared toward the Crescent City, almost 2 million residents boarded up and heeded the warnings, filling the highways with their cars in an attempt to flee the storm's wrath...

which is the right thing to do...

My fear is that just a few years from now, people will again stop listening to the forecasters (and who can blame them... I mean Jim Cantore absolutely LIVES for this!)... and we will have another terrible storm which takes more lives than it would have if people had heeded the warnings...

there's an analogy begging to be observed here.

I am not a fear monger; I am not a 'sky-is-falling' kind of person... and I have long ago disavowed the notion that God is waiting and watching for us to 'step out of line' so He can catch us and punish us and slam the door in our face.

but He told the parable of the ten virgins (recorded by Matthew in the 25th chapter of his gospel account) for a reason... perhaps as a cautionary tale of what happens when we are unprepared...

so what does that mean? to be prepared...

love to hear your thoughts...

to be continued...

God Bless!