Not only is this old world subject to hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, drought, extreme heat, extreme cold, hail, lightening, blizzards, and ice storms, there are derechos and haboobs! A haboob is a violent dust or sand storm created by thunder storm downdrafts and outflow winds. They are prevalent in North Africa, some parts of the Middle East, and the American Southwest plains. A derecho (Spanish for “straight ahead”) “is a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. A typical derecho consists of numerous microbursts, downbursts, and downburst clusters. By definition, if the wind damage swath extends more than 240 miles and includes wind gusts of at least 58 mph or greater along most of its length, then the event may be classified as a derecho” (National Severe Storms Laboratory). God didn’t create man to be subject to haboobs and derechos. God made man to live in a paradise, but man wasn’t satisfied with God and sinned against his lovely Creator’s law, and when man fell, his world was placed under a curse. On that memorable day, God said to Adam, “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:17-19). Happily, the story doesn’t end there. The compassionate Creator had planned salvation, and He Himself paid the price that His own holy and just law required when His Son suffered and bled and died on Calvary. By receiving the gospel of Jesus Christ, fallen sinners can be reconciled with the lovely God and can look forward to living again in paradise. “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose” (Isaiah 35:1).
(Friday Church News Notes, September 3, 2021, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)