Maybe it's time to move!

I'm sure like me, you have seen some coverage of hurricane Gustav - maybe a lot of coverage. And the big focus of course is on New Orleans. Thankfully they learned a lot in the last three years since Katrina. The fast majority of people heeded the warnings and evacuated. The police and National Guard were prepared to handle looters, and such. They spent tons of money to shore up the levies. And from early reports it's gone pretty well.

But why is this happening? What if Gustav had come on land a few miles to the East? What if Gustav had the teeth that Katrina had? It may have been a lot different. They say, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature" - but isn't that what New Orleans does every day? Having a significant part of your city below sea level is just dumb. And at what cost? Thousands have died, Billions have been spent to rebuild homes and shore up an inadequate system of levies and pumps.

But what about me? What about you? How many times do we try to live our lives below sea level when it comes to spiritual things? How many times do we live to close to the world and not as close to Jesus as we should? And what "levies" do we have in place? We say things like, "I'm not as bad as so-and-so. I give my tithe. I'm a regular attender. I'm the pastor.

Folks we have some storms coming - God is not mocked, whatever we sow we will reap. If we continue to live in the wrong place, all the levies in the world will not save us. Life has a way of bringing storms and when we are not in a safe place we may suffer some significant loss. I see it all the time. Marriages built on, "what I want", not what God wants. Parents trying to be their kids buddies when what they need are parents. Youth believing the lie that the most important thing in life is to fit in. Christ followers who know more about American Idol than the book of John. All indications of people living below sea level.

So maybe for New Orleans, maybe for you and me - Maybe it's time to move!