Hurricane
Katrina

Hurricane Katrina did major devastation on the Gulf Coast. If you wish to contribute to recovery efforts, use caution and don’t just donate to any group. Here are the agencies we suggest and approve for receiving relief donations. Be sure to mark them for hurricane relief::

As you might expect, there are many scams on this donated money. To protect your donation, here are some guidelines:

1. Give only to reputable organizations. The ones listed here are all good ones.
2. Give to organizations that have low overhead. For any organization, at least 90% of your donation should go directly to the relief.
3. Never click through to an organization from an email, as there are scam emails that take you to web sites that look like legit websites but are really copies and the real ones - they scam you. Always go directly to the organization site in the browser.
4. If coming in from another web site (as from our post or web site), it is best to copy the visible URL with Ctrl/C, then paste to the browser address using CTRL/V. Just licking the listed URL may pop you to a copy of the real site - another scam.
5. Some email may be sent to you sending you to a site with “breaking Katrina news.” It could be a scam site that loads malware to your system - viruses, trojans, or spyware. Make sure your antivirus, firewall, and spyware is updated and even then use caution on strange web sites
6. Watch out for pitches on how to make a fast buck off the disaster, such as penny stocks on oil refineries. Check spambusters.org for updated info on these.
7. Be alert for email messages purposively from victims asking for donations. Unless you know the victim, your probably can’t do the need assesment. Give your money to a reputable agency and let them do the assessment.

A national call to prayer was issued by President George W. Bush on On September 8, 2005:

“Throughout our history in times of testing, Americans have come together in prayer to heal and ask for strength for the tasks ahead. So I’ve declared Friday, September the 16th, as a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance. I ask that we pray — as Americans have always prayed in times of trial — with confidence in His purpose, with hope for a brighter future, and with the humility to ask God to keep us strong so that we can better serve our brothers and sisters in need.”

Let us all mark this day on our calendar and remember even now those who have lost all that they have, whether much or little, and those who are working there in terrible conditions to try to heal and restore order.

Many people are judging the Katrina hurricane from different perspectives. Francis Frangipane has an excellent article summarizing the various views. He also shares his own view on it.

A Cleansing Has Begun

Another important website will help you separate some fact from fiction on the issue.

ESR | September 5, 2005 | Closer scrutiny reveals the lies surrounding Katrina evacuation and recovery

Now to my own opinon - the answer isn’t simple, and involves much more than looking at one city or even the Gulf Coast. In Genesis, we see God gave Man authority over the earth and also a stewardship of the earth. We have, with our greed, been poor stewards. Those last astronauts that returned from space a few weeks ago reported how much damage they have seen to the environment even in the last few decades of our space travel. Our leadership has shown no interest in protecting the environment and we’ve let them lead from this. My question: Will we learn from this, or will we filter the data to our own selfish agenda?

More on Katrina from
Christianity Today…