We have NOT been evacuated for Hurricane Ike. It just looks like about the time I get back on Monday, we will get the word to get out. That could change of course. We’re currently still off campus due to Gustav-caused power outages.

There’s a hurricane in the gulf pointed at New Orleans. Yawn. Didn’t I just do this last week? Yep. Am I worried, fretful, beside myself? No. Am I going to repeat my ranting challenge for Gustav to do what Katrina could not? No, I don’t like redundancy, besides that, some baptist pup called me a moron and it hurt my feelings ;^]

I have learned some things from these emergency calls to leave town. Five seem rise to the top, and may be helpful if your business closes due to an irritable inspector, your school has a lock down, or your church power goes out twenty minutes before the service was scheduled to start.

1. 1.Develop the habit of spending time with God. It takes time to form a habit under the best circumstances. If you want God to explain what’s going on when you’re facing doom, you might try developing a relationship with him now. 
   

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2. 2.Expect to learn something about yourself. Facing any crisis will tell you who you are inside. Are you a weak Christ-follower, a strong one, or not one at all? Does your belief fade when the power goes down? Do you rise to the occasion? Do you find that God is good even if He allows your home to flood? How big is your heart? Crises will tell you.
   

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3. 3.Plan now for interruptions tomorrow. The most troubling thing about facing doom is the loss of routine and momentum. Plan on how you will continue to do business if something interrupts your routine. My mind likes a routine. I like to get up, spend an hour or two with God, workout, and spend time training and learning from men and women  who crave a church planting movement in the USA (cpm e-book.pdf).
   

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5. I walk into an amazing number of distractions to my routine already, but evacuation kills my momentum because I cannot be with my students. I’m Paul looking for Tim.
   

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7. I solved some of this by limiting classroom time and moving much of my instruction online. That is not, however, satisfactory. One needs face time to equip people to start churches. I can do a lot online and in short seminars, about 1/3, but easily 2/3 is done face-to-face. you can help people walk with Christ online, but not as well as in person, and training church planters is nothing more than teaching men and women to walk closely with Christ. You do the latter, you get the former.
   

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9. Semester-based schooling is like a train. It takes a while to get going. It takes two to three weeks to gain momentum in a semester. If something--like a hurricane--breaks our stride, we feel like the semester restarts. So, when doom looms and we have to slow our momentum, things will not be as good as they could, but they also will not stop altogether. Plan for the interruption and you might survive. 
   

That’s three. I have to check the weather.