I write this in the calm before a possible storm. There is a T3 warning that threatens to go to T8. Or it might change directions and miss Hong Kong completely. Hong Kong has a history of massive storms. Back before Typhoons had names, the dates 21 September 1874, 18 September 1906 and 2 September 1937 stood out as the worst. The 1874 storm destroyed our near neighbour St. Joseph's Catholic Church. The 1906 storm killed 10,000, including the Anglican Bishop of HK.
There are much better warning systems in place than the typhoon gun of the past. Yet we still wait and wonder. Last week in the sermon I mentioned that 85% of the things we worry about don't happen. Seems that's about the same percentage of predicted typhoons that don't happen to hit Hong Kong. The power and the lack of predictability of storms is humbling. The fact that we serve a Savior who can calm the storms with a few words, "Quiet, Be Still!" (Mark 4:35-41) is encouraging. If "even the wind and the ways obey him," maybe so should we.
