"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. 9/11 and Storms Withstanding."

submitted by Rev. Arnold Hendrix, Atmore, AL

First of all, my prayers with the populations of Louisiana, Mississippi (My former home state) and Alabama. Please give generously to the Red Cross.

Second, let's forgo my traditional wise-&#&$ review and do a deeper analysis of this sign, seen by Rev. Hendrix in Mobile, AL (an area hit rather hard by Katrina itself).

The non-believing public, who must be searching for answers because of the tragedy of Katrina, would read this sign and interpret it two ways:

1) God has all things under his control, except for some things which slip through the cracks. He just missed 9/11 and Katrina. Whoops, His bad! Non believers who are already scarred by this event and read this sign will see a God that is untrustworthy, and why should we bother with an untrustworthy God?

OR...

2) Non-believers could read this sign to mean that even though the Gulf Coast was ravaged and decimated by Katrina, God and His physical kingdom are just fine, thankyouverymuch. While this is a defensible position from a biblical point of view, it is an incomplete one as well, and searching non-believers desperately need the rest of the story.

God is grieving the loss of life even more than we are. What a shame that the fall created a world where these tragedies can happen. So rather than shoving it in people's faces that God and his kingdom may not be physically damaged by the storm, or backhandedly implying that God "...just missed this one!", why not offer hope to those who need it? Why not offer them the hope and love they are searching for, and then tell them WHY we have that hope and love to offer?

I watched the concert for the Red Cross tonight, and was astounded at the number of songs that had gospel/Christian meanings or overtones. U2, Alicia Keys, Shirley Ceaser, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Rod Stewart (and the awesome group that backed him) , and others I am forgetting all offered songs of inspiration and hope, most of them from a Christian perspective.

In this instance, we should be following the example of Hollywood and the music industry. (Man, I never thought I would be saying that). Rather than offer platitudes on our church marquees, can we not just offer them the love they need? Wouldn't more people be reached?

Sorry for the rant, I promise the next batch of reviews will be back to my old, wry self.

Comments welcome.