3/14/2006 12:28:00 PM Billy Graham said:

"The hurricanes were not God's judgment...Sometimes, people are quick to blame God, but you know there is the devil...The Bible says he's the liar...He wants to destroy not only the Gulf coast, but your life...And he wants your soul,...Tonight, there's a battle taking place in this arena for your soul."

Repent America says,

"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city...From 'Girls Gone Wild' to 'Southern Decadence,' New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. From the devastation may a city full of righteousness emerge."

I'm not sure that we can really know. Job in the Bible questioned God immensely over what was happening to him, yet he did not sin.

Naked I came from my mother's womb,and naked I will leave this life.The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.Praise the name of the Lord.Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God or anything (Job 1:21-22)

After all that happened to Job, and after Job had heard God's discourse, Job replies:

2 "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,things too wonderful for me to know.
4 "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak;I will question you,and you shall answer me.'
5 My ears had heard of youbut now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myselfand repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42)

Note verse 3: Job spoke of things he didn't understand, and in verse 5, he had heard from God and seen God's sovreignty. He therefore "repented in dust and ashes."

James 1:12 says,

"Blessed is a man who endures trials, because when he passes the test he will receive the crown of life that He has promised to those who love Him."

Why evil exists, why good things happen to bad people, and why the unjust go unpunished are all mysteries, and will remain a mysteries. But out of suffering though comes a "crown of life." I don't want to blame the devil or God for what happened to the Gulf Coast, but rather realize my place before God: His humble servant.

The question I am asking myself now six months after Katrina is "What am I going to do about it?" God require of me to act justly (help the disenfrachised), love mercy (through missional mercy), and walk humbly with my God (Micah 6:8). By walking humbly, God will get the glory, not me. New Orleans and its people are ravaged. As a Christian, I think it is time that I put the Great Comission and the Great Commandment into action.

thanks...I'm still figuring out this blogger thing.

The attitude of people like Repent America sickens me. Why was Katrina any more God's judgment than flooding in Hawaii or fires in Texas? A local Christian camp had a building struck by lightning this weekend and all of their offices burned to the ground. God's wrath?

If Katrina was judgment, then let us all wear it. Otherwise, people like Repent America would do well to that Job's three friends were the worst interpreters of God's actions in all of Scripture.

"...would do well to remember that Job's friends..."

Well said. I am thinking that it is hard to say that it is God's wrath, but I am not going to say that it isn't either. I think the point of Job (the one I was trying to bring out) is that things happen to us and there is no explanation for it. Our position before God is one of humility and repentance. Job was undoubtedly repenting in "dust and ashes"...the lowest a man could go at that time.