VIOLENT NIGHT BLOG LAUNCH

What strange timing. My book, Violent Night, is about a hurricane plowing through my city--Houston--at the time of the Apocalypse. The book was at the printer when Hurricane Rita approached! I have to add the reference to KatRita (that's what a lot of people are calling it, Katrina+Rita=KatRita), and send it to my printer for revision.
Now Violent Night isn't about Hurricanes KatRita. Katrita is not, nor never was, the hurricane I called Damien in the book. It's not a sign of the end-times. It's a warning. And it's a perfect set-up. A million people spent 12 or more hours stuck on a freeway in 100+ degree heat, without air conditioning, without gas, without a bathroom, to escape the ultimate disaster. Many of them are coming home to find a few leaves on the ground--practically the only sign that Rita was here. Next time they may just sit at home. But the next time might be the big one.
The Bible talks of "birthpangs" of the last days. The Christmas tsunami, Katrina and New Orleans, Rita... it seems these disasters are more frequent. But unlike the tsunami, the worst that could happen with the hurricanes didn't. Rita lossed strength and turned eastward, into less pupolated territory. Katrina did the same, missing New Orleans. Yes, both were bad enough, but not as bad as they might have been. The tsunami couldn't have been worse--an 8.9 earthquake! (Did you know they had an 8.7 quake in the same place the day after Easter, but without the tsunami? Are these signs?) In my lifetime, America has set forth a Christian example and supported Israel. Is that why the ulimate disaster didn't happen? What happens if we reject God from our culture, as some want to do?