{"id":5055,"date":"2016-10-06T07:18:22","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T11:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/?p=5055"},"modified":"2016-10-06T07:18:22","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T11:18:22","slug":"hurricanes-coming-you-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/2016\/10\/06\/hurricanes-coming-you-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurricane’s coming. You ready?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Source:<\/a>
Source: NOAA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s very calm outside right now.<\/span><\/p>\n

The light breeze and pleasantly warm weather make it seem this could be another day in Paradise.<\/span><\/p>\n

But from what I hear, it won\u2019t be.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see what the 7 a.m. update says, but as of 11 last night, Matthew was expected to be a Category 4 hurricane tonight as it skirts the east coast of Florida, which is about 30 miles from here.<\/span><\/p>\n

And in light of that, I can\u2019t help but think about what we discussed at church last night about the difference between asking God to keep us safe, and asking God to protect us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Does God call us to be safe, or to be bold for Him? Should we hunker down, or keep our heads up and our eyes open for what He\u2019s doing and for opportunities to serve Him?<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, we\u2019ll stay inside when Matthew comes, and listen if we get an evacuation order. I\u2019m not talking about being foolhardy.<\/span><\/p>\n

But if I was a police officer or a firefighter, my work would be right here, even in the midst of the storm. And that\u2019s our work as God\u2019s people too. We\u2019re not called to stay safe and run from the storms of life; we\u2019re called to bring hope and life and light \u2013 and God\u2019s love \u2013 to those darkest hours and those darkest places.<\/span><\/p>\n

We need to prepare for that.<\/span><\/p>\n

As calm as it is in the pre-dawn darkness as I write this, yesterday was a madhouse as people prepared. One gas station we went past last night on the way to church was out of gas; others had lines. People stripped staples from store shelves. Plywood suddenly became the season\u2019s must-have accessory.<\/span><\/p>\n

You see, the time to prepare for the storm is before it gets here.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m prepared. Are you?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s very calm outside right now. The light breeze and pleasantly warm weather make it seem this could be another day in Paradise. But from what I hear, it won\u2019t be. We\u2019ll see what the 7 a.m. update says, but as of 11 last night, Matthew was expected to be a Category 4 hurricane tonight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[42,448,637],"class_list":{"0":"post-5055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-family","7":"category-ministry","8":"tag-character","9":"tag-ethnos360","10":"tag-new-tribes-mission","11":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}