It is Monday morning here, but it is Sunday in the States, and this time the southern states are under the pump. I am aware that there are bloggers there, whom I have followed for years. Prayers for them.

“It’s a monster hurricane out there — it’s bringing along with it something to be feared,” Myers said, referring to the “extremely angry ocean” that Irma has been churning for so long.
Irma had sustained 185-mph winds for 37 hours, the longest any cyclone in the world has maintained such intensity. Super Typhoon Haiyan previously set the record in 2013 when it maintained winds at that level for 24 hours.
“Rainfall across the peninsula will average 10 to 15 inches with locally higher amounts, which can lead to significant flooding issues,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Alyson Hoegg said.
Poor drainage areas will be particularly susceptible to flooding from Irma’s torrential rainfall.

The local news, however, is all about teh global warming and correlating the floods in the Monsoon with the current hurricane track we have. Me? Unsure. It is a very cold spring here. All weather is local, and we do not comprehend or understand the weather systems we have.

Though the Greens are saying “vote for us, we will fix it”. Yeah, right.

And in the rest of the world, Sunday is being celebrated as a secular day of rest. It is not. It is a memorial. For Christ died, on took his sabbath rest in the grave.

Mark 15:40-47

⁴⁰There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

⁴²When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. ⁴⁵When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. ⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.

This Sunday, there are many who will not be able to make it to worship. Those of us who can, should have prayed for those damaged by storm: yesterday we prayed for the workers in the Caribbean, where there have been deaths from this hurricane, as we prayed for Houston but a week or so ago.

Many will be doing their duty. Clearing drains. Rescuing children, Saving the frail and inform. Helping in shelters. Keeping the hospital running: doing the emergency surgery.

Ensuring the stress counsellors flying in are given both a shovel and orders not to counsel. We learned this, locally, during earthquakes.

But we worship on Sunday for that is the day Christ rose. His death was witnessed. His burial was confirmed. It was seen nearby and from afar. The witnesses are named, both men and women.

The Romans knew how to kill, and they killed God incarnate. He was put, dead, in a grave. The following day was the Sabbath (Saturday) and the women rested, according to the commandment.

This is what the death of Christ looked like: an expedient and cowardly governor ordered the death of someone he know was innocent to appease the powerful, who had a mob they could unleash. That many ignored it. A few witnessed it. One man had the courage and means to bury him.

And those in power thought the crisis was over, they had survived.

Not knowing that it was God, incarnate, that they had killed.

Pray for me. Pray for us all. That in these times of crisis, we will listen to the Spirit of God, and in times of peace we will not ignore him.

My prayers and my wife’s prayers and our children’s prayers are with them all, even those some would call fools.

We pray for the citizens, the Cajun Navy who will show up exhausted and the EMS, both professional and volunteer. All of them.

May our Lord, Jesus Christ watch over them and keep them. May those who hear the Holy Ghost in their time of fear and peril not forget that call when the wind dies and the waves subside and the debris is cleared.