We’re sitting here in Florida, where the wind still howls in spurts outside the window.

Ir roars.

It also whispers.

Is it saying something about nature’s — God’s — disapproval with certain aspects of what has been occurring in this state?

Coming on the heels of Hurricane Ian, the storm called Nicole caused further and very substantial damage to the coastline. The beach nearest us is now a small cliff and boardwalk has been damaged, splintered, or washed out.

It’s worse elsewhere.

But one ponders, especially with severe beach erosion (and ruination of the local wooden pier) whether the Lord is saying something not about politics — which too often is the entire center of attention — but about how His Creation, how nature, has been degraded here and in so many other places.

Fires don’t erupt on the St. Johns River near Jacksonville, as they once did on the Cuyahoga, near Cleveland, but the bottoms of many once-crystal-clear springs have been turned into slippery green globs of algae (due to runoff from farm and lawn fertilizers, which are grossly overused)