Just Hush!

When God gets ready to deal with somebody, He deals with their mouth first.

I love watching my kids interact with each other. They can bicker with each other so quickly, but let another child come into the mix and speak ugly to one of them and they will quickly take up for each other. It's like that old saying, 'You better not talk bad about my sister, but it's ok if I do!' When I hear them arguing about something, I find myself telling them to "hush!" Some days, I feel like that's all I do is go around saying, "hush, hush, hush!"

One time I was talking about somebody and the Lord spoke to me and said, "Well, who do you think you are?" Romans 2:1 says, "Therefore you have no excuse or defense or justification, O man, whoever you are who judges and condems another. For in posing as judge and passing sentence on another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge are habitually practicing the very same things." Gossip, slander, and backbiting all have a root, just like a tree or a flower. The root of these things is judgement and the root of judgement is pride. So when we talk about other people and negatively, it is because we think we are better than they are.

In God's eyes, sin is sin and wrong is wrong. All if it is equally disappointing and distasteful to Him and it is also very dangerous. Jesus warned in Matthew 7:1-2, "Do not judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves. For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others, you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you." When the Lord convicted me of what I had said about another person, He was also saying "That's my child you're talking about!"

So if we have reverential and worshipful fear of the Lord, and if we stand in awe of His name, we should not use our mouths to speak evil against His people. Is God telling you and me to "just hush" when it comes to speaking about other people?

Who or What Is Controlling You Today?

It has been nice to decompress after last week's weather, however I've been watching Hurricane Ike closely, just like you. For now, it looks as if Ike will "go west young man" and make landfall in eastern Texas or the western fringes of Louisiana. I don't wish harm on anyone, but I'm hoping the gulf coast gets a break on this one. It looks as if high pressure that is progged to build behind a cold front will "protect" the southeastern Louisiana coast, Mississippi gulf coast, as well as Alabama and Florida. However, if the track shifts just a little bit east, we could still deal with tornadoes and rain once landfall occurs. Here's the latest composite track.

Before my husband headed off to handle evacuations, he bought us tickets to see the circus over the weekend. The children had a ball! Even Lilly Faith stayed awake for most of the action. We had fabulous seats--on the floor, just feet from the performers and animals. It had all of the makings of your typical circus: acrobats, clowns, tumblers, elephants, and tigers.

At one point, a beautiful brunette dressed in sequins and rhinestones came out to tame 6 white tigers. They acted like big kitty cats, but every now and then made you realize they were dangerous. I enjoyed watching the pretty lady crack her whip and make them do tricks. You could tell when they got mad at her--they would show their fangs and growl at her. But she also had a rod with a nice chunk of raw meat on the end of it which she used to entice them to do their tricks. The control she had over those tigers was pretty impressive. If one moved out of place, she raised her voice, cracked her whip and they obeyed!

Paul talked about control in Romans 8:9, "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." That's pretty cut and dry, isn't it?

So do spirit-filled Christians still sin? Yes, but not while they are controlled by the Spirit. Having the Spirit of God within does not always mean surrendering to his control. To use Paul's language, we can be in the Spirit, but not live according to the Spirit. I can live in another part of the world and not live according to its customs, patterns and ways. The journey of being a disciple of Christ involves learning how to let the Spirit have control. But unlike that tiger-tamer, God doesn't have to crack His whip to get us to let Him control us; for that is a choice we make on our own.

What A Week!

The title says it all. We've all been through alot, haven't we? We've rushed our preparations to completion, stayed glued to the tv and internet, and have been amazed at how many vehicles can fit on I-55 south as people head back to the Mississippi coast and Louisiana.

I'm taking Friday off. I'm getting my children back from my parents and hoping my husband gets to come back home any day. I'm going to visit with the little ones and find out what all they've been doing while the rest of us have been working through the storm. With that said, I'll return with my "Forecasts & Faith" blog on Monday.

I hope you have a sunny weekend and enjoy!

Gustav Pictures

The tornado warnings continued yesterday. Since Gustav made landfall, the National Weather Service has issued over 200 tornado warnings just for central Mississippi! One of those tornadoes touched down in Bude Wednesday. Tony Mullins sent me a picture that his friend Delton Butler took of the tornado as it touched down along highway 84. This is what a landfalling tropical system will cause!

Cedric Collins sent me these pictures of the flooding taken in Franklin County.

Annette Sifford sent me these pictures taken at the time of Gustav's arrival. These are from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Those familiar with the area near the Beau Rivage will recognize this location.

No, Gustav was no Katrina. He made a name for himself without Katrina's help. But when I suggested that you prepare just like you did for Katrina, I hope you felt prepared once the weather got progressively worse. As I stated in my blog several times before, Gustav would not get any worse than Katrina.

I've heard from many of you who have been appreciative of the blog updates on Gustav and the severe weather afterward. I hope through all of this, you will be even better prepared for the next tropical system whatever his or her name may be....

Wednesday's Weather Update

Once again, my apologies for being so tardy today. I got home several hours ago, had a few hours of sleep, and am back at work again.

Gustav is just a pesky low pressure system now but is still causing problems. Portions of the state will still experience tornado warnings as these quick spin-up tornadoes form. Not to mention, the gusty winds and periods of heavy rain. I am amazed at the pictures that have been sent to me from viewers in southwest Mississippi. The amount of flooding and wind damage is enormous. While some have said "we dodged a bullet", tell that to people in Natchez, Brookhaven, Meadville, Bude, McComb and areas along Hwy 84. They didn't dodge anything!

Take a look at this graphic and see if you can find your county.

We have received so many unconfirmed reports of tornado touchdowns. The National Weather Service will be surveying the damage over the next few days to determine if they were indeed caused by tornadoes.

The good news is the weather begins to improve Thursday!

The Day After

(I apologize for the late update. I got home at 3am.)

Although Gustav has made landfall, we will continue to feel his presence today and tonight. Gusty winds, heavy rain and tornadoes will be possible through this evening as the outer rain bands spin over the state. We are all under a tornado watch for most of the day.

Power outages can still occur today and crews will wait until the wind dies down before they go in to make line repairs. Most of the counties south of I-20 are without power and flash flooding is becoming a problem now.

Stay on your toes today and be prepared to take cover should a warning be issued for your area.

Gustav's Arrival

Gustav picked up steam last night and is making land fall this morning along the south central Louisiana coast as a category 2 hurricane.

Here is what we can expect in Mississippi. The highest winds should be south of highway 84(from Natchez, to Brookhaven, to Monticello, to Hattiesburg). If you live in this area, you will have winds sustained for several hours at 30-45 mph with gusts up to 60 mph. This will cause snapped trees and downed power lines. If you live north of I-20, you will have sustained winds of 20-35 mph with gusts of 40-50 mph. This will cause scattered or widespread tree and power line damage with power outages expected. If you live north of I-20, you will have winds sustained for several hours of 20-25 mph with gusts of 30-40 mph. There could be scattered power outages. The winds will pick up this morning and continue through midnight. Starting this afternoon and tonight, tornadoes will be possible. This will continue throughout Tuesday along with periods of heavy rain. Gustav is expected to put the brakes on once reaching land and some isolated amounts of 5-10 inches of rain could occur, especially in southwest Mississippi. Areas along the I-55 corridor could have 2-4 inches of rain with some isolated spots receiving more.

Seeing as we all could lose power at any time today, please have your NOAA weather radio on so you can be informed of the latest weather conditions where you are. Meantime, I'll be with you on WLBT throughout the day and overnight.