Dear friends:

This past Friday, August 26, 2011, Hurricane Irene was heading directly for my house.  We were 3-4 states away, but the cone projection chart put out by the National Weather Service had my address right in the center of the storm's path.  It was only about 24 hours from us.

I remembered by childhood hero, Superman, and my new super hero, and exclaimed, "This is a job for Jesus."

Suddenly, I remembered Jesus' words, "He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also" (John 14:12).

Then I remembered that Jesus had calmed a storm by speaking to it.  And I remembered that He said if we have faith we could speak to a mountain and it would be removed (Mark 11:23).  He did not say to pray that the mountain would be removed, but to speak to it, just as He spoke to the fig tree (Mark 11:14).

So using Jesus as an example, and His words as my authority, I decided to speak to Irene.  In the name of Jesus, I commanded Irene to move to the east, away from our neighborhood.

I contacted members of our Friday night Bible study and asked them to do the same.  They did.

I asked our home church in Florida (that we attend via Skype) to do the same.  They did.

After that, even though Irene continued to bear down upon us, I had a great peace.  A pervasive peace.  We did not even purchase supplies.

The next day, Irene was getting closer and closer, and I still had a great peace.  Finally, Irene was on the outskirts of our metropolitan area, still heading for my house.  I took a nap.

A TV announcer suddenly came on and said that Irene was veering off to the north-northeast.  I knew that was Jesus!  This slight directional change caused the brunt of the storm to miss us,  Thank you, Jesus!  Your Word works!

Bottom line: We got some strong breezes but no hurricane-force wind.  We got light rains, but no problem.  We needed rain anyhow, and it helped put out a swamp fire miles away that had given us so much smoke for days.

Most of our area lost electrical power, including nearby friends and relatives.  But we did not lose power.  Our next-door neighbor lost a big tree.  We lost nothing. 

This is odd.  In a period of just one week, this area of the nation got a rare earthquake, the worst in over 100 years, then an unusual hurricane, both experienced all up and down the east coast. 

Hello!  Is there another message here? 

The main message I got is that Jesus rose from the dead, is still alive, well, and faithful to His Word!

Jim