Resisting Hurricanes and Other Storms

Hurricane Supplication Day is June the 1st.  I have been keeping this day and the first week of June close to my heart since 2017.  It was on September 20 when we started living through Hurricane Maria. I am still mystified how a landlocked Kentucky Rain Crow like me lived through Hurricane Maria.  This was not like any other Army mission because my wife and three children came along for the ride. 

I will share some of my personal experiences in a moment.  Right now I need your help.  Will you help me keep Hurricane Supplication Week from June 1st to June 7th? Here are the three very simple things I am requesting

1. Pray daily June 1-7. Ask God to protect Puerto Rico and the Caribbean from Hurricanes and Tropical Storms. (Hurricane Season is June 1 through November 30).

2. Tell someone what you are doing and ask them to join you.

3. Ask your church to pray for protection on Sunday June 4th.

I know in today’s world some will think it is superstitious to pray for weather. I have two examples that trump those opinions in my mind.

1. Jesus spoke to storms and he said, “Peace! Be Still.”  I will follow Jesus at this point.

2. I am an Army Chaplain.  Our Corp has in our wheelhouse what we call, “The weather prayer.”  It was December 1944 and the weather in Europe was our third enemy.  It was hampering efforts to liberate the continent from Fascism. General Patton asked Chaplain O’Neill to pray.  He did!  He wrote out the prayer.  The Third Army printed the prayer, signed by Patton and distributed it to Allied troops.  I can almost see Soldiers opening the prayer as they fought in the snow, rain, and mud. As many know the weather cleared and Allied troops advanced for six days.

I learned something about storms in 2017.  You always resist storms.  I stood against Hurricane Irma.  Irma was a direct hit on the Virgin Islands.  It was on track for a direct hit on Puerto Rico.  In my spirit I saw the storm moving North.  Hours before making landfall the storm tracked North. Puerto Rico only experienced tropical storm force winds.  It was still enough to knock down trees and take out the power and water for a week.

Two weeks later, Hurricane Maria began tracking toward Puerto Rico.  I was standing on my patio moving the outside furniture inside again.  It struck me, “What are the chances of being in two category five storms in two weeks?”  It seemed to me to be sinister and evil.

I stood against Hurricane Maria as  I stood against Irma.  Maria cut a diagonal path across Puerto Rico from the Southeast to the Northwest.  We were a few days into the relief operations for the Army when I realized storms are from hell.  They are sinister and evil. This storm had taken property and life and now it wanted to take even more.  This storm was after our soul. 

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