My thoughts are all over the place today, and I’m sure many in our area feel the same. I’m trying to piece together (while making sense) what it’s like to live in a Hurricane disaster area year after year after year.

First of all an evacuation is not a vacation.

It’s not fun.
It’s costly.
It’s worrisome.
It’s extremely unsettling.

Why do people continue to live in our area when year after year hurricanes devastate our land and homes? Because it is home, and our roots run deep. Because the men and women here keep this country going. The refineries that line the Gulf of Mexico are instrumental to America.

What is it like for everyone living here now? It’s a waiting game. You prep and you pray. You check social media to see where your friends are. You keep news notifications turned on so that you are alerted when the storm trend changes. You are literally glued to some type of device – that’s just the way it is.

If you evacuated you stay up all night long watching the news bracing yourself for the impending destruction. If you decided to hunker down at home you stay up all night praying that your house and yourself survive.

But when the sun rises and the winds die down we will come together just like we’ve done storm after storm. Churches will literally be the hands and feet of Jesus, and the Cajun Navy will run as smoothly as a Chick-fil-A drive through helping as many people as humanly possible.

And we know:

We will rebuild.
We will keep going.
We will survive.

And come next August we may or may not do this all over again.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Isaiah 43:2