As I write this, I have the Weather Channel on as background noise.  Nothing new has come from them in some time.  I guess more accurately I should say, nothing unexpected has come from the Weather Channel in some time.

I live in the suburbs of New Orleans.  I love it here and wouldn’t trade it for the world.  But here is the reality.  Today is August 29, 2008–the three year anniversary of the worst natural (and man made) disaster to ever strike the United States of America.  Ironically, as this anniversary day comes to a close, a Hurricane named Gustav is plunging through the Caribbean en route to the Gulf of Mexico with a seeming fix on Southeast Louisiana.

I spent much of today stressed.  It started with a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Student Health Center at Tulane University.  My day job, you see, is as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at the Tulane University School of Medicine.  Sounds fancy, but I can make it a bit more simple.  I practice as a psychologist at the Tulane University Student Health Center Department of Psychiatry.  At the Student Health Center, I serve as a member of the leadership team on what is called the Executive Committee. 

At 8:30 AM, we gathered for our meeting.  The agenda was posted but we all knew going into the meeting what the meeting was really going to be about.  The university had made a decision on Thursday that it would close effective noon on Friday with an eye toward reopening on Wednesday, September 3 and resuming classes on Thursday, September 4, 2008.  At Exec this morning, we reviewed our plan and at the end of the meeting we all left with a sense of confidence that our plan this time would be better than it was three years ago when Hurricane Katrina struck.

But who really knows.  My good friend and spiritual mentor Gary once told me “Randy, if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans!”  Touché.

Anyway, I did what I needed to do at work, but of course, the whole time, I was really thinking about my wife, my daughter, my extended family, my neighbors and yes, even myself.

So here I am.  Preparing for bed and writing this blog and entitling it “Here Comes Gustav, and I say ‘Thank God’!”

Sound a bit crazy?  Think maybe the stress has gotten to me?

Maybe.

But here’s what I’m really thinking.  This evening at 6:30 PM I sent my wife and my daughter, along with my mother-in-law, off to Shreveport in an attempt to get them to a safer area and to beat the potential evacuation traffic jam.

Thank God they will be in a safe place in a matter of hours.

Tomorrow, I’ll awaken and start preparing my own property as best I can for only God knows what.  I’ll do what I can do and continue to watch the Weather Channel.  Who knows, perhaps some weird anomaly in the atmosphere will cause this thing to take aim somewhere other than Southeast Louisiana.  I don’t wish that on anyone.  I can only pray to my God “Thy will be done.”   But that’s where my title “Here comes Gustav, and I say “Thank God!” comes from. 

You see, it would be easy to get caught up in the theological, philosophical and existential mental games of “What kind of God would let this happen?”, but the reality is…THIS IS HAPPENING!  I’m reminded of the cliché of God Helps Those Who Help Themselves!

I thank God this evening because my wife, my daughter and my mother-in-law are already safely out of harm’s way from this storm.  I also thank God this evening that we have the technology in our lives that perhaps we all too often take for granted.  So maybe the news from the Weather Channel isn’t all that great tonight.  But the reality is, I can use that information and pack me and my German Shepherd up tomorrow after prepping the house and get the heck out of town and meet up with my family!

I don’t know what’s going to happen on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.  I can definitely tell you I’m reminded (perhaps even in a PTSD sort of way) of a mere 36 months ago when Katrina came through my neighborhood and did that thing that she did, and trust me, those thoughts and feelings suck.

But tonight, I thank God!  I give God thanks and praise that the Weather Channel exists to give me the information to get my loved ones out of harm’s way.  I give God thanks and praise that tomorrow after I’ve done what I need to do, me and my pup will climb in my Explorer and get out of harm’s way.  I give God thanks and praise that when I head out tomorrow, I’m going to have my parents, my sister and my father-in-law caravanning with me to a safer place.

I don’t know what Gustav holds for New Orleans or for any place else.  I can only pray a prayer of protection and mercy for where this thing heads.  But I’m also reminded of the little old lady at church back in October of 2005 after Katrina had destroyed our sanctuary who said to me “Randy, when praise goes up, blessings come down.”

What else can I say to that but AMEN!

Thanks for stopping by and please visit again!

-Dr. Graf

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