I had experienced a hurricane before in Florida. That was some years back. The media was full of it… and so were my host. They were concerned about electricity and water after the hurricane had done its bit. Being a citizen and resident of a country where electricity and water were never guaranteed, I became some sort of consultant to my hosts… Lets’ turn the refrigerator to its highest for the next couple of days… We can store water in as many containers as we can find, including the back of course… Boil water to fill all flasks… And we continued to listen to the TV warnings on what to expect, and to recall past experiences of hurricane. This was hurricane season after all, in the state most affected by hurricane.
My hostess carefully prepared the ‘safe place’ in the house, ensuring comfort and activity. Not having ever before experienced a hurricane, I listened carefully to her instructions about what to do if the hurricane gets bad. But I was partly amused, and partly irritated. I figured that if the hurricane did get nasty, finding the safest place in the house would not require rocket science. And if a hurricane gets so bad that it does wake you up, comfort and activity becomes irrelevant. An aside here as I wonder if hurricanes always occur at night.
Anyway night came and we all went to bed. I woke up in the morning refreshed, having been only disturbed by the unusual muffled noise of heavy rainfall. I got up in the morning amazed that the disturbance must have been very brief since it would seem I went straight bak to sleep. the house was stll in tact, and I could hear my host moving around fixing his coffee as usual and I started my day the usual way with my quiet time. Only after that did I step out to check the damage that the hurricane might have caused.
My host too had obviously started his day as usual. My hostess was nowhere to be found. My host assured me that she was still asleep. I smiled to myself thinking: so much for the safe space.. It was only when she came out to join us that that I found out that she had indeed used the ‘safe space’. But she regaled us with how she ended up back in bed as usual.
It would appear that as she watched her husband and myself sleep through the hurricane from her ‘safe space’ for a while without coming to join her, she figured that is you can’t beat them, then best to kin them. So she came to join us in our ‘Safe Space’ on her bed as usual! The house filled with laughter. The only challenge was that electricity was indeed down. While I cannot recall exactly how we coped until power was restored, we must have coped pretty well. But that was some six or seven years ago and I have even forgotten the name of the Hurricane!
And here I am facing hurricane Milton some six or seven years later. Serious warning about Hurricane Milton started barely a week after Hurricane Helene. While Hurricane Helene was supposed to land in Florida, it needed up in North Carolina and it would seem that it did much more damage there. I still cannot quite recall the number of homes that were said to have been affected, and the number of people that died. Probably because I was not yet in Florida then. But casualties were much, much higher than I had expected in a country that not only gave a lot of advance warnings, but also provided alternative shelters for all the areas that needed to evacuate. From what I hear, the warnings were ignored by many people, and these were the ones who bore the bring of Helene to their own great regret.
And yet to recover from Helene, here comes Milton again to Florida! And I had just arrived on the scene, only this time I was all by myself. Milton, according to them was going to be stronger than Helene. And Tampa, where I was, would get the brunt of its fury. Company would have been nice.
I recall the verse that coursed through my mind very often for the first couple of days. It was watch and pray for ye know neither the day nor the hour. So I followed the media news closely while at the same time meditation on how crucial it is for Christians to prepare spiritually daily for the Second Coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Meanwhile, as far as the impending hurricane was concerned, I learnt words like ‘spaghetti formation’ and was reminded of the meaning of words like swerve, dip, and shift. Although most of these concepts were Greek to me, I soon caught on to the fact that the hurricane speed was fluctuating and its direction was changing on a daily basis, which meant that nobody could actually predict when, where, and how it would land. This fact registered forcefully on my mind, what I already knew… God was in total control.
At this thought, some worship songs flipped through my mind: They include: The Lord reigneth, blessed be the Lord, let the Rock of my foundation be exalted – a bible verse of course, from Psalms 18:46, to be exact. There’s also The Lord reigneth, let the earth tremble. This may sound like religion to you, but the way these Bible verses and songs flooded my mind and spirit surprised me considerably! After that experience, all I could do was praise God in the following of days! When the weather was bad and I couldn’t take my usual walk, I even sang and danced along with some gospel songs I loved!
By this time, I Had decided to tuned off completely from the media meteoroligists’ analytical cacophony about the path, movement, and direction of the hurricane. It was settled deeply in my mind that God was in control and until the hurricane landed, nobody would be able to tell where it would land and at what speed.
At that point came the next miracle: The Peace that passes all understanding. I must confess that until now, I had always assumed that it was a second party that would be able to observe and marvel at beholding the Peace that passes all understanding in the person who had it! But I discovered something new about that Bible verse… I, the person enjoying the Peace, was the one that marveled at the peacefulness I experienced in my own spirit, in spite of the frenzied preparation and talk around me at the thought of an impending hurricane. Many times, I found myself asking myself: Why are you feeling so peaceful about all this?. But I know that it is a beautiful feeling I would like to hang on to forever.
While I still have no answer for it. I eventually came to understand the reflections that undergirded that Peace. They were: You are not here by chance. You did not force your way here. You prayed about being here and you chose the dates prayerfully. The Lord granted you favour with a very smooth trip. Therefore your being here right now is in line with God’s Will for you. The Lord knows that you are here. He is Omnipotent, OmniPresent, OmniScient. He is the One who controls this hurricane. He is in charge. If it gets bad, He knows about it and He will be with you. But the hurricane is not here yet. And for all you know, it may never land here. So what is the point of worrying about it in advance? Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
In the days before the hurricane, some loved ones called to ask where I was. On discovering I was in the path of the hurricane, they suggested I should consider moving like many others in the area I was staying had done. But the bible verse – Be still, and know that I am God kept me calm. So my response was simple. I shared my faith and hope and asked for prayer support for safety through whatever happened. I found it interesting that they were also quickly reassured by this. Thank you so much for your prayers. Our God is indeed the Yea and Amen. He answered perfectly.
Others in similar predicament kept me updated on developments and shared tips with me on what they were doing and what I could do. This time, the verse that went through my mind was: Work, while it is yet day, for the night cometh, when no man can work. And as you can imagine, the thought of my life as a Christian in a relatively peaceful world coursed through my mind. I imagined what the reign of the AntiChrist would be like. I prayed fervently for grace and strength to stand up for Jesus and pursue His Purpose for my life as long as I remain on this side of Heaven. I also confessed and stirred up my faith in He who is able to keep me from falling and to preserve me blameless until that day – whether death or Rapture.
Meanwhile I did make some practical preparations for the hurricane as much as I could. I stored water at least to bath and flush. I checked my food supply to ensure I had enough to survive for a day or two without electricity. I also stored as much drinking water as I could. Having done that, I would took my usual walk to the usual places. What I observed was that many of the few neighbours who had decided to stay put like me were doing a whole lot of frenzied shopping. But that strange Peace remained. When the thought crossed my mind that the power cut could last longer than I had planned for, the Bible verse that came to mind was: I have learned to abase and to abound. What is a couple of days of discomfort if the Lord has kept me in the land of the living?
During the day of the night the hurricane was to land, I briefly wondered if I would be able to sleep as usual. But sleep I did. Once briefly in the night, I thought I could hear a muffled sound of heavy rain but I promptly dozed off again and only woke up refreshed in the morning. My first thought was: It’s morning just like every other! Perhaps nothing dramatic happened after all! Maybe the hurricane speed had slowed down from the 150mph predicted to maybe 20mph in the night. I shrugged and proceeded to observe my morning rituals thanking God for His abiding Peace. I figured there was ample time to get the answers to my questions.
When my day started in earnest, I quickly realized that the electricity power was off which meant that the hurricane speed had to have been pretty high. Then I drew the curtain to let some light in and …Whoah!!!!
I can’t tell the speed, and I am still not interested in googling to find out. The evidence was staring me in the face: Milton had come down heavy! Debris everywhere I could see! It was difficult to understand how I had slept through it all! When I shared my experience with my sister, she said it reminded her of Jesus sleeping in the boat right through the storm. That never even occurred to me! I must have been sleeping in His arms through it all! And another song came to mind: Safe in the Arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast. Whereby His Love o’er shadowed, sweetly my soul shall rest! Amen!
I resumed my normal walks every morning. I noticed the dimished population and observed first hand, the ravage that Hurricane Milton left in its path even very close by to where I was staying – Fallen trees and debris of all sorts everywhere; broken electric poles and wires; flooded major roads and blocked sidewalks… All these gave me reason to thank God even more fervently that I had nothing to report apart from one single roof sheet that might be from the building where I was. However, I strongly suspected the power cut would last much longer than I had expected and I was right.
I wish I could say I sailed through it all without much concern but that would not be true. By the second day, the thought of long days of no electricity internet, no telephone, and no light began to worry me a bit.
On the first day, I was able to reach loved ones to reassure them that I was okay so that was quite a relief. I finished one of the two marvelous books I had to read (I recommend The Jesus Style by Gayle Erwin), and continued the second one by Jeff Meyers (on why Christians should support Israel) during the second day of black-out. I was almost getting to the end when the phone light became too dim for me to continue reading. My morale dipped somewhat. Sure I could finish reading the second book the following day, but what on earth was I to do with myself after that with no more books to read (or so I thought), and cut off from the world without internet or telephone network.
And then came the next miracle! Just as I was falling into the doldrums that evening, I suddenly remembered from the blues that there was a torch somewhere in the house! I was shocked at how I suddenly I remembered! I got up immediately to look for it and finding it was very easy. I tested it and it worked! Providing an even stronger light than the batteries I had been managing in the previous days! It was like saving the best for last! That of course cheered me up exceedingly.
I finished the book that night and made for bed, still amazed at how I suddenly had remembered about the torch, and very thankful for it. I had actually laid down on the bed, hoping to drift off without really feeling sleepy when, in a similar sudden experience, I recalled that I had a pile of Readers’ Digest on my bookshelf! So off I went to pick one up again full of praises for a loving Father who cares about even the little things – His steadfast Love and Faithfulness are indeed endless! I read myself to sleep, happy as a lark.
And Yes, I suffered three days of cold food. But to be quite honest with you, it was quite a delight to have a good excuse on the first day to ‘soak’ Garri (Cassava flakes) and Epa (Groundnut) for lunch! Had I chosen to take this meal for lunch without this excuse, I would feel quite irresponsible! However, I can assure you that my attempt at a cold lunch on the third day was a disaster. Cold, cooked Acha (fornio-sorghum meal) is not at all recommendable. I only managed a few forkfuls before I abandoned that project and settled for carrots, nuts and sandwiches. Praise God from whom all blessing flow!
And now Milton has gone. And I, and my body, soul, spirit, and house are still standing… on the Solid Rock! Alleluia! And I will never, ever, forget what God taught me about the Power of His Peace through Milton the hurricane