Some 20 years ago a group of citizens of the state of California decided the state was about to sink into the ocean and that the end was coming, so they went up into the mountains to stay. They may still be up in the mountains; if they came down it was not publicized. Since that time California has had what has seemed to be numerous attacks by nature, with floods, fires and mudslides.

A few years ago many big, pretty homes were destroyed by the mud slide coming down a mountainside. One owner said this was the third time his house had gone down the hill, but that an agency always paid to have it replaced. Lately the fires spread over the mountains, and a lot of people had to be evacuated and many homes were destroyed, an effect of the drought sometimes. Those fires are going strong right now, and it usually takes several weeks to get them under control. These kinds of problems have been going on for centuries and will continue until a calmer type weather comes along.

California is a beautiful place and has a lot of sights and some very friendly people. Let’s all hope their problems with the weather calms down and the beautiful sights are not destroyed by these fires. Many other states are having similar problems with storms, tornados, floods, rain and even tidal waves destroying beaches and homes as it comes ashore. The state of Washington and Oregon have had tidal erosions along the coasts and one year even had big articles of material from houses, businesses and even automobiles that floated across the Pacific Ocean after some earthquakes and storms attacked Japan. Some of this trash even washed up along the coast of California, changing travel along the waterways and confusing the mammals that live in the ocean in that area, even interfering with fishing.

As we move along into the Midwest and mountain areas we see some more damage of the tornadoes. Oklahoma has seen some of the worst storms in the history of our nation. This has been the news for several days and nights, and help has been coming form everywhere to help these victims, even some from our churches here in Bogalusa. It’s hard to even imagine what a shock this was to those families and what happened so quickly, and they will need help for a long time to get back to a more normal family life. It’s a real blessing that many more did not lose their lives, and our prayers should be for all the families.

Apparently this area has not had many tornadoes or they would have had storm cellars. In Alabama there are several paths that tornadoes follow whenever they come through and most homes along this area have cellars that stay stocked with food and other things that are needed in emergencies. Some of the big churches invite all who want to come to their basement, and they fill up quickly. The only problem is many bring a dog or two, and people who are not animal lovers have a hard time spending a night or two with this crowd.

Another thing Alabama has that seems to be a novel idea compared to the rest of the country is several subdivisions built back in the 1970s had all the power lines underground, with only street lights above the ground level. There were no power outages because of trees falling and taking down the power lines. This was probably with the suggestions of the TVA power supplier, and it worked real well.

There are still problems with rain and floods from Florida on up to the New York area, and now hurricane season has started. Let’s hope we have none that attacks our country. We need to continue to pray for those who have been visited by the storms and for our nation. May He bless us all today.