By Mike Johnson
I used to live in the epicenter of recent hurricane activity in Florida.
Pine Island, Florida is a 17-mile barrier island off Cape Coral and Ft Myers.
At the north, it borders Charlotte Harbor.
At the south it borders the Caloosahatchee River and Sanibel Island.
It’s connected to the mainland by a bridge connecting a skinny spit of land holding the town of Matlacha (Mat-la-shay).
The highest point is 9 feet above sea level.
We lived there ten years, leaving in 1996.
Every year, we experienced scares that required the hurricane preparation drill, but no devastating hits or water in the house.
In the past two years, Pine Island has been hit hard three times.
Ian devastated the island in 2022, the Cat-5 eyewall hitting it directly.
Helene flooded it severely a month ago with a glancing blow.
Milton just covered it with storm surge again, destroying many homes and commercial buildings.
We watched from Wyoming when the island was also devastated by Charlie in 2004 and Wilma in 2005.
Irma whacked them hard in 2017.
But this recent run of calamity is beyond comprehension.
Demoralizing is the predominate emotion.
Environment plays such a large role in our earthly experiences.
Detached from hurricanes, it now seems obvious that building a permanent home and permanent life in a turbulent and temporary environment is a bad choice.
But few select their environment proactively.
They’re born there, then habit, routine, relationship or job plants them there, and there they grow.
There are perils everywhere.
But a flooded house every other year would certainly have broken me.
Had I not proactively left in 1996, I certainly would’ve left after the first hurricane wrecked my house.
But every change in location reshuffles the deck of unknown, upcoming experience.
You could meet up with a bad neighbor, bad boss, infidelity temptation, car accident, lightning strike, tornado, murderer, or a million other negative outcomes.
Earth itself is a hurricane.
You're gonna get wet.
It’s only a matter of what experience floods your house.
Nowhere on earth is safe because since the creation of man and mortal death, earth has been a temporary assignment.
Your body is going to die.
Only the soul is eternal.
Earth is tough duty.
It’s to our credit that we courageously chose it.
Houses and jobs and families only seem permanent.
But even those, are temporary.
So it's much better to establish permanance in the eternal medium of our soul.
Build your soul in God's eternity and that can never be washed away.
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