We live on a river just a few miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. This is our river upstream. It is a wild and beautiful river, with a pure sand bottom. It is winter in this photo, so imagine how green it is in the summer!

Hurricane Ivan did not cause any damage in that view upstream. But standing in the same spot, if I turn my camera downsteam, look....

Hurricane Ivan tore HUGE decades-old cedars and ripped them into shards. There are over 22 trees in the river in this area. The hurricane spawned a tornado that came through here, not all that far from our house where we were weathering out the storm. Even 9 months later, when I walk down to the river and see this mess, I sometimes get teary. Not because of the trees. Although I'm sad to lose them, I know that's the way of God's nature. I get sad because I remember that night so well...the sounds of those trees cracking, the meteorologist's voice on the radio, the darkness when the power went out, the transformers that blew up with loud bangs, and the wind. The endless wind.
Although I love great displays of nature, I am still overwhelmed by what fury Hurricane Ivan held.
We are so small. God is so big.

(Originally published on my 2005-2008 Keeping the Home blog - photo taken by me)