Pastor John’s Corner
As I write this, I’m keenly aware there are thousands of people in this country that are suffering from the loss of loved ones, homes, and all of their worldly possessions dues to the horrific deluge of tornadoes and floods that have occurred during the month of May. Right here in our own neighborhood of the Evansville-Tri-State there was loss of life and property; but not on the scale of places such as Joplin, MO. I give God praise and thanks that none of our parish folks were lost during the tornado that went through Haubstadt and the surrounding area.

A fundamentalist preacher predicted the end of the world on the 21st of May. For those affected by the tornado that hit Joplin on the 21st, I’m sure it must have felt as if the prediction had come true. Let me assure you though that one had nothing to do with the other. First of all, Jesus told us that no man will know the time or the hour that the Son of God shall come again. Doomsday predictors are doing the devils handiwork for him. They are trying to out-guess God. ---- Secondly, I’m absolutely certain that God did not “cause a tornado or flood” to punish any of the people in the places that have been hit so hard by the catastrophes. To believe that, is to believe that God purposely wants you to suffer. God is a God of love. He has a created a universe and put into motion a universe that is so delicate and perfectly balanced that we have no way to truly appreciate or understand it. But – God also gave us dominion over this earth that He created. When we ruin the atmosphere with toxic gases and pollutants, we interfere with the perfection that God put into place. We punch holes in our atmosphere and we speed up a naturally occurring global warming process. This causes changes in our weather patterns’, thus changing the severity of what happens globally to our world. So, let’s look not to God as a cause for our problems, let’s take a closer look at our stewardship of the world God created for us.
Blessings to you,
Pastor John