Hurricane Gustav

Updated Map 8/31.
Ron got a page yesterday, went into the office, and 24 hours later he's in the Florida panhandle waiting for Hurricane Gustav. He expects to be there for the next nine days, helping coordinate what the states need and how the federal government can help.

I read an article saying that a million people have already fled New Orleans, fearing that the hurricane could be a cat 5 by the time it gets there. I'd be getting out of there, too!

Besides Ron in Florida, we have friends and family in Louisiana and the Houston area. Please join me in praying for everyone in the path of the storm. This prayer was written by the bishop of Lafayette after Hurricane Audrey in the 1950's.

Prayer for Safety in Hurricane Season

O God, Master of this passing world,
hear the humble voices of your children.
The Sea of Galilee obeyed Your order
and returned to its former quietude.
You are still the Master of land and sea.
We live in the shadow of a danger over which we have no control:
the Gulf, like a provoked and angry giant,
can awake from its seeming lethargy,
overstep its conventional boundaries,
invade our land and spread chaos and disaster.

During this hurricane season we turn to You, O loving Father.
Spare us from past tragedies whose memories are still so vivid
and whose wounds seem to refuse to heal with the passing of time.

O Virgin, Star of the Sea, Our beloved Mother,
we ask you to plead with your Son in our behalf,
so that spared from the calamities common to this area
and animated with a true spirit of gratitude,
we will walk in the footsteps of your Divine Son
to reach the heavenly Jerusalem where a stormless eternity awaits us.
Amen.