Cyclone Fantala

When I was a kid I got to be in a play at our church that was about Jehoshaphat. I played Josephus, the historian and was essentially the narrator of the story. It was a fun experience even if my mom still cringes with the thought about me sticking my tongue out to the whole church while pretending to write in my "history" book. Little did I know the role that story would play in my adult life as well.

About two weeks ago a storm formed in the Indian Ocean. Here they are called cyclones, in the states we would call them a hurricane. The storm's name was Fantala and it strengthened and became a major storm reaching category 5 status. At one point was the strongest storm on record in the Indian Ocean. That storm was a major threat to what we are doing in Tamatave. The storm threat was such that we had to start packing the ship to prepare to sail. Sailing out of here would have required us to cancel as much as two weeks of surgeries or more.

As the storm was heading west towards Madagascar, it took a veer to the northwest and continue to strengthen. After a few days of heading northwest it was forecast to turn and possibly head toward the east coast of Madagascar (where we are). We were getting updates twice a day and I was reading up on the storm much like I did when I lived in Florida. We really didn’t want to leave. We didn’t want to have to cancel all those surgeries. We didn’t want to see the storm do any damage to this country.

 I got up one morning and read the "Our Daily Bread" for that day. It talked about the same story of Jehoshaphat leading the people of Judah and an impending battle they were about to have (2 Chronicles 20). The people he led were worried because the armies coming were great and there didn’t seem to be any way to win the battle. He acknowledged God’s supremacy and admitted his own fear and confusion. “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (v. 12). Then he prayed and then had the singers go to the front and lead the army. When they arrived it turns out that the other armies had turned on each other and by the time the army of Judah got there there was no one left to fight. All they had to do was collect the plunder.

About the same time as I read this story, the storm started to weaken. Turns out when a hurricane turns around and heads back over its own path it weakens itself because it used up the hot water at the surface and now the water is cold (bad news for a hurricane). In all my years of following storms while living in Florida, I never learned this, most likely because that never happened to a storm I was watching. It was fascinating for me to read the story of Jehoshaphat and learn this new to me fact about hurricanes. I shared this story and my new knowledge with my team a couple days later as the storm was weakening. There was still the possibility of the storm heading towards Madagascar but the strength was reduced. A few days later the storm made another turn and instead of heading towards Madagascar, it did a full turn and went back over itself again. Shortly after that second run over its original path the storm dissipated and died out. ( I included a couple maps to try and show the path the storm followed.)

I couldn’t help but tie to the two stories together. Armies killing off themselves and this storm essentially killing off itself. Both the armies Judah was facing and this storm were forces far beyond what could be handled. And at the end of the day all that was left was to turn to God and trust. So Judah did that and we did that. In the end those unbeatable forces killed off themselves.

It was a cool thing to experience reading that story at the time of this storm. I am not always one who does very well in the faith department, but that "coincidence" at least for me was certainly strength building. I haven't been at my best lately and have really struggled with my faith. So while I would not wish for something like a storm to come along, but what I got to experience as a result will be remembered for quite a while.