Stop me if you've heard this one......

It is 1993, early summer/late spring. The Mississippi river flood is in full swing. Water is everywhere. It is the worse flood in the US ever!!!! (Just Google 1993 Mississippi River Flooding and you'll get over 620,000 hits)

Anyway, a man answers his phone and his best friend is on the other line.

"Dude, I am coming to get you in 30 minutes with my F-150. Pack some clothes, my sister says we can stay with her."

He replies, "No thank you, the Lord will provide me a way out. Thank you and God Bless."

His friend confirms this and hangs up.


Later that evening, the man is standing on his porch as a bus full of evacuees drives by. The flood waters are just taking out some surface streets.

The driver stops and tells the man, "Get in, I'll drive you to high ground."

Man responds, "No, the Lord will provide me a way out. Thank you and God Bless."

Bus driver nods their head and drives away.


Next morning, the flood waters are up to the porch and the man is forced on to the roof of his garage. A group of people come by in a boat and offer him a ride to safety.

The man replies back, " No thanks, the Lord will provide me a way out. Thank you and God Bless."

The person driving the boat, insists. "The news said all our house will be under water before nightfall." "Come on lets go, it'll take a small miracle to get through this."

Our man tells the boat driver, "With God all things are possible."

Driver of the boat shakes his head and speeds off to safety.


Sure enough, 12 hours later. The water is up to the rooftops of the houses and our man is now on the roof of his house. He is the only person left in his neighborhood. A helicopter flying above spots him and the driver gets on his bull horn and tells the guy he'll drop a ladder, grab it, and he'll fly him to dry ground.

Our man again declines, he waves off the helicopter, screaming as loud as he can, "The Lord will provide me a way out of this." "With God all things are possible."

The pilot hovers for a couple more minutes trying to talk to the guy stuck on the rooftop but getting no where. He realizes it is a lost cause and flies away. While doing so, he radios the Coast Guard and tells them what just happen.

The Coast Guard scramble a rescue helicopter and a mission. It is now nightfall, and many houses are completely submerged in water. The Coast Guard crew is convinced the man is gone, but lo and behold the man is perched atop his chimney!! Still alive. The copter approaches and one of the CG guys attaches himself to a ladder and is lowered to the man. The man immediately starts to wave off the Coast Guard.

As the rescue person gets there, he tells the guy to grab on and hold on. Our man refuses again saying, "The Lord will provide me a way out, no miracle is too big for God." The CG demands the guy grab onto him. The man refuses and remains firm and confident. The CG member reaches out and grabs the guy, the man moves back, loses his footing and falls into the flood waters never to be seen again.


The man dies, goes to heaven and sees God. He then asks God, "Why didn't you provide me a way out?"

God answers back, "I did!" I offered you a pick-up truck, a school bus, a boat, a helicopter, and a Coast Guard rescue mission." You refused them all!"

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Hahaha, ok, ok, stop rolling your eyes. Think about this. The US just went through Katrina and now Rita is barrelling in on Texas. People remain behind!!! Can you believe it? Some are because of them being poor or having no way out. However, many others are staying because they are stubborn. Many of these people are saying exactly the same think the man in my (long) joke was saying. Just this morning, on the radio, they interviewed a family staying behind. There comment was, "The Lord's will is what will happen." "He'll get us through this." "He will provide for us."

Yeah, he has provided, paved highways, higher ground, vehicles that have round wheels and engines and move rather quickly, emergnecy vehicles, etc., etc., etc.. So, he has provided his way out. He has performed a miracle.

Technology has allowed us to predict the hurricane's path and when it will hit (satellites and meteorology). To get that message out to people in the blink of an eye (TV and radio) And to provide a ways and means for us to get out of dodge rather quickly (automobiles, planes, helicopter, bikes, mopeds, whatever). Yet people remain behind. And many claim God will provide them a way out.

He already has.

These are the "fundamentals" that take things way to literally. They are enamoured with the Biblical stories of great miracles and stories of Lion's Den, fiery furnances, resurrections, harrowing escapes, and mighty war victories and so on. All amazing, TRUE, stories.

But did:

Moses mom keep Moses alive by keeping him for herself and claiming God will provide, or did she float him down the river and claim God will provide.

When Jonathan warned David of Saul's wrath and intention to kill him, did David still live his normal life and go meet Saul claiming God would provide, or did he go into hiding and claim God will provide.

What about the woman with the terminal illness in the New Testament? She heard Jesus was coming to town. She knew he could cure her. All she had to do was touch his garment. Did she just sit there and wait for a miracle to happen and Jesus would seek her out and heal her? No, she did something for herself and sought him out, fought the crowds, crawling on her feet, reached as far as her arm could and her fingertips grabbed his garment. She was healed immediately. Jesus even felt the energy leave his body.

These are just 3 well known instances where miracles and situations happen in the Bible where the individual didn't just sit there and not heed the warnings or use their own abilities to make something happen and were made better off for it.

But, for those of you that insist on the miracle aspect of things and God's mighty will and ways, I ask you this:

Isn't the ability to see the atmosphere of our earth as it is happening, watching it with your eyes from thousands of miles away, the ability to fly, moving in a transport vehicles powered by more than 2 horses, and paved, straight roads, great miracles of the natural resourecs God has given us on this planet?

I think so.

As I said before, I do consider myself a fundamentalist (My very first post on this blog). But these situations and stories upset me. This isn't how things work. This is not taking the Bible literal.

You do not stand blindly in the face of danger and expect God to perform a life altering, mind-blowing miracle. Especially, when the simple, everyday things are all around for you to use to get out of danger.

That being said, please pray for everyone down in the gulf coast. They do need them.

Until then, God speed and He always provides a way.

Brian