So last week and the first part of this had quite the wide spectrum of news reports: terrible tornadoes in the south, a Royal Wedding and the death of a long-sought-after terrorist.

Seeing the photos of the tornado aftermath is nearly unbelievable. The loss of homes pales as the loss of life is calculated. But what are that many people doing for lodging since their homes are destroyed? How are the survivors handling the trauma of what they’ve been through?

Fully believing God has control of the weather, I am not one who believes that God sends these storms to punish people. Remember Hurricane Katrina? There were a few who made such declarations. So why does He allow storms like these? I don’t profess to know. But what if through His allowing people to feel need, they would come in contact with people who portrayed Jesus with skin. What if this is another reminder that this world is not our home, that to hold tightly to anything here is futile. That there is nothing here besides souls that we can take with us? That some things just aren’t as important as we though they were.

As I was getting the order ready for the family who won the canvas on the Dream Come True giveaway, suddenly their city of Birmingham jumped out at me. I wondered if they made it through okay and was able to find their blog where Mrs. McFarland tells of their experience.

And there’s the news story coming out of our small town:

She sat at her desk, casting furtive glances at the ominous looking clouds glowering down at her from their lofty position. Having seen the videos on weather.com of the hurricane devastation in Alabama captured the night before did nothing to calm her nerves. Knowing that same weather system was the one glowering at her did not either.

Eye witness reports from over the years describe the sound of a tornado as similar to the sound of a freight train. Keeping that in mind she made a mental checklist of available hiding places should a tornado actually develop and hit their small town. She decided the desk in the back office was most likely to be safe. Only 1 window in the room, vs. 2 in each of the others.

Suddenly as if in a dream, the sound like a freight train could be heard roaring closer and closer. She ran to the door to see what exactly it looked like, having never actually seen a tornado before. And it would be necessary to identify a funnel before actually crawling under a desk. But the deafening roar (or so it seemed) came and went rather quickly.

When it was over, the only evidence of what had just happened was the steam silently rising from two silver ribbons leading south out of town.

The Royal Wedding I did not get to see in live. I forgot about time difference, and nearly forgot that the wedding was going to take place on Friday. As I was driving to work I heard on the news, “And the Royal couple has just left ….” and I thought. Oh, it’s over already. Duh. Ever heard of a things called time zones?

So I watched a couple of videos, and was charmed. Yes, a lot of hoopla and it gave me claustrophobia to imagine being in the middle of those huge crowds in the streets, but the groom was handsome, the bride beautiful and elegant and it was good to see something good in the news for a change.

I was young when Charles and Diana got married, although I remember it fairly well, for not having TV, and internet was on brewing in the mind of Al Gore.

Looking back over the life of the former Royal couple, the story of Diana, Charles and Camilla is still sad to me. Hopefully Princess Di’s children have learned important life lessons on how not to do relationships. I wish the new Royal couple all the best. Not that they need it or anything. 🙂

And the news breaking Sunday night about Bin Laden. I’m not even quite sure how to put my thoughts into words about this one. I imagine that was news heard around the world. I know it has an impact on a global level. However, I don’t believe it made the same waves on a spiritual level. Evil has not been eradicated. (There have been Hamans, and Herods, and Neros, and Hitlers through history. Their deaths have not ended evil on earth.) Another unsaved soul was plunged into eternity to face his Creator and for that, I can not help but being somewhat sad. I am thankful that his ability to influence is gone. To think of the waste of a life who obviously was a huge influence of a lot of people, the potential that same influence could’ve had for the good instead.

I can’t help but wonder what Rob Bell thinks of Bin Laden’s death. In case you are not familiar with him, Bell is a pastor, who believes hell is experienced on earth, instead of in eternity, and that Love Wins and in the end everyone will be saved because they cannot resist God’s love.

I enjoy reading the blogs of Jim Daly and Randy Alcorn’s, because they usually talk about current events, and their compassion for people comes through very clearly in their writing. I apologize for not linking to their blogs. Right now I’m on a slow internet connection but I may try to add them later.

So, what’s your take on the past week’s events?