Email: My first hurricane [DW]

Funny how some parents (who want children to be silent during a storm for their own reasons) will say to be quiet "because God is angry" -- scare them good! Respect for the Lord ("fear of God") and nature is a good thing though; it can keep you alive.

Outgoing FEMA director Brown had better 'fess up honestly instead of trying to bluster his way through the hearings. As the Democratic senator from Louisiana pointed out, even the President said his job was inadequate. For someone to "light out" and try to "save their own ass" in this situation is not only reprehensible, but it shows how warped Brown's grasp of reality and his motives truly are.

I think God is teaching us to be humble. Many of us are (as can be seen by the neighborly service and good spirits among many during crisis), but any "trial by fire" (or water) brings out our true mettle. (The smelting process brings impurities to the surface so they can be skimmed away.) We are all stressed, no doubt; and stress shows strength or fatigue. Even in this war on terrorism, God wants us to be humble. "Pride goes before a fall." God is testing us spiritually and financially through these disasters. We owe it to ourselves, our nation and the world to be industrious but to know our limits, and to look to our Maker in all things.