Update from the Path of Hurricane Irma

I often wondered what the inside of a hurricane I wall looks like.  I may find out.

I generally write my blog and set up my newsletter late on Sunday night or early Monday morning.  However, Irma has convinced me that I should do it early and be ready to deal with wind and rain on Monday if it is needed.  The attached map is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) prediction for Irma at bedtime on Friday night.   It is an educated guess.

The folks at NOAA National Hurricane Center (NHC) are the smartest, brightest and most dedicated people in the world when it comes to tropical cyclone prediction.  They have tens of millions of dollars invested in metrological equipment that ranges from sea level to miles above the atmosphere.  They have combined hundreds or even thousands of years of experience and most likely a good gut instinct about storms.

Nevertheless, every 6 hours they update their models, which is a way of saying they take a new, educated guess and generally change their predictions.  Where once Irma was expected to skirt the east coast of FL and make a beeline toward Charlotte,  more recent models have it going right of the peninsula of FL, over my house and making a run at Nashville.

Please do not think I am being critical of NOAA NHC.  They work under extreme conditions and under incredible pressure.  They have been a great help to me.  But some things can never be learned.  The best data in the world, the best education in the world, the nearly unlimited resources, and all the heroic efforts of the best minds can not give you certainty about where a storm is going. 

In Luke 10:21 it says, “At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, ‘I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.’”

All the data in the world will not enable our minds to comprehend the Father.  The words wise and intelligent are words that generally carry a very positive meaning in the Bible.  Wise and intelligent will always trump foolish and dumb.  Anti-intellectualism is not something we ought to pursue.  John Wesley once received a note that said, “The Lord has told me to tell you that He doesn’t need your book-learning, your Greek, and your Hebrew.”  Wesley answered, “Thank you, sir. Your letter was superfluous; however, as I already knew the Lord has no need for my ‘book-learning,’ as you put it. However—although the Lord has not directed me to say so—on my own responsibility I would like to say to you that the Lord does not need your ignorance, either.”

Study is vital to our life, work and ministry but there are limits to what intellectual exercises can accomplish.  We may be able to know about Him.  But the knowing Him is the result of grace and love not data.  Data + Research will never produce intimacy with the Father.  In some way God is delighted in our knowing Him not from the mind, but in the heart; something you can’t learn, but gain by grace.

Latest prediction:  Irma will weaken and miss my house by 40 miles.  Anyone have suggestions of what to do with 40 gallons of stored water?