and another thing
Two of our church staff members were not at church today because they had fled town. That irks me. Even in the Great Storm of 1900, when the entire island of Galveston was buried by 17 foot storm surges by people who had no idea the storm was coming, only 1 in 6 inhabitants of Galveston perished. Do you hear that? Less than than 20% died in the most catastrophic natural disaster in our nation's history! And these guys I'm talking about, who both live 80 miles inland, in recently built, well-constructed brick homes--neither surroundied by a single tree--choose to flee town... What does that say about their trust in God? Is that wrong of me to say that? I just don't understand. We (the chuch) go on and on about trusting God and singing songs about how He is faithful. What does it say when your chance of serious bodily injury is more remote than winning the lotto and you still feel you have to leave town?!? Who do you think the Seamaster is? God knows what's going on.
Edited to add: After reading Chris' reply, I realize I probably don't agree with this that much. I was probably more agitated that they left the other staff hanging on Sunday. They didn't leave anything planned for their specific jobs in the event that they didn't return for Sunday. I felt like there was a "Hey, free vacation from church!" attitude to it when I still had to be there. Perhaps I have a spirit of bitterness I need to deal with?
Edited to add: After reading Chris' reply, I realize I probably don't agree with this that much. I was probably more agitated that they left the other staff hanging on Sunday. They didn't leave anything planned for their specific jobs in the event that they didn't return for Sunday. I felt like there was a "Hey, free vacation from church!" attitude to it when I still had to be there. Perhaps I have a spirit of bitterness I need to deal with?