FROM THE TOP
LELAND ACKER chreporter@mediactr.com
It seems like every time I turn around, there is a major catastrophe in the U.S. When such catastrophes happen, my brother-in-law (Jeremiah, my wife's brother) is sure to be involved. When the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up in the Earth's atmosphere and fiery debris rained down on Nacogdoches, where do you think Jeremiah was? Yep! Nacogdoches. Hurricane Ivan struck Alabama in 2004... where was Jeremiah? You guessed it! He went to Alabama to help with relief efforts.

He has served in Iraq and is preparing for his second tour of duty there.

Tuesday night, he called my wife and told her, "I don't mean to alarm you, but our air field is on fire. I wish I had marshmallows."

You guessed it. He is stationed in the path of the blazes that are currently consuming southern California. (As a side note, the high school in San Diego that he and my wife attended is currently being used as an evacuation shelter for family pets. Yep! It's gone to the dogs!)

Marine basic training must be intense because those who graduate from it feel invincible. Here, you have a major fire approaching my brother-in-law's place of residence, and all he can think about is roasting marshmallows. (If all Marines are this fearless, we'll win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.)

One of the things that I like about Jeremiah is that no matter how bad things get, or how big of an event he becomes a part of, he gets through it with a sense of humor that will make me rich if I can ever get it written down into a book.

Psalm 23:4 says "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me."

These days seem like perilous times. We had flooding in Texas over the summer. There are fires in California, droughts in Alabama, wars overseas and rumors of catastrophic attacks to be carried out on American soil (See "rumors of wars" in Matthew 24).

Freeway bridges collapse, maniacs go on shooting rampages in public places, natural disasters are becoming common place and everyone seems to have a short fuse. Does it seem like the world is out of control? To us, it is out of our control.

However, if you know the LORD, you can have assurance based on the promises of Psalm 23 that he is with you, even in the midst of peril.

Though the world spins out of your control, you need not live in terror. Put your faith in the Lord.