God's fault?

Last night I caught a few minutes of a preacher in Boise on the local access channel. His sermon was titled "Hurricane Katrina: Why God caused it". Yet another person saying that God is punishing America for not following him. Newsflash, America has not followed God possibly ever but certainly for the last 200 years or so. I guess we are not very good at paying attention to God's warnings.

If natural disasters are God's way of calling us to repentance is that why L.A. had the fires last week? I mean that is certainly a prime den of inequity. Then again, New Orleans does have Bourbon street. What about the small earthquakes in Cascade that have been fairly steady the last couple of weeks? Is that like God shaking his finger in reproach and if the people of Valley County don't change their ways a bigger event is on the way?

How big does the natural disaster need to be in order to be in order to be a message from God? Is a thunderstorm really God crying?

I better give a significant gift just to make sure I'm safe.

Chad