Florida residents riding out Hurricane Idalia had to “swim out of their windows”: Personal reflections on innocent suffering
The Daily Article
The Denison Forum
4.9 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 31 August 2023
⏱️ 6 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s Big Bend area yesterday morning. Some residents who chose to ride out the storm at home had to “swim out of their windows” to escape waves of water crashing through their front doors. In other news, a fire ripped through a rundown five-story building in Johannesburg, South Africa, killing at least seventy-three people as of this morning. And today is the anniversary of Princess Diana’s death in 1997 at the age of thirty-six.
The day’s news so often asks us to consider the incongruity of innocent suffering with who we know God to be: all-loving and all-powerful. To that end, I offer some very personal reflections on suffering and look to David’s honesty with God in Psalm 3.
Author: Jim Denison, PhD
Narrator: Chris Elkins
Subscribe: http://www.denisonforum.org/subscribe
Read The Daily Article: https://www.denisonforum.org/daily-article/hurricane-idalia-fl-residents-swim-out-of-their-windows/
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It's Thursday, August the 31st, 2023, and this is the Daily Article podcast. I'm Chris |
| 0:08.7 | Elkins from the Denison Forum, narrating today's article written by our co-founder and CEO, Dr. Jim |
| 0:15.7 | Denison. Hurricane Adelaelae slammed into Florida's Big Bend area yesterday morning. |
| 0:22.7 | Some residents who chose to ride out the storm at home had to swim out of their windows |
| 0:27.6 | to escape waves of water crashing through their front doors. |
| 0:31.5 | It then flooded parts of Georgia and the Carolinas before moving offshore this morning. |
| 0:36.5 | In other news, a fire ripped through a |
| 0:38.9 | run-down five-story building in Johannesburg, South Africa, killing at least 73 people as of this |
| 0:45.4 | morning. Several of the victims were children, and today is the anniversary of Princess Diana's |
| 0:51.8 | death in 1997 at the age of 36. I've written often over the years of the |
| 0:57.7 | subject of innocent suffering and truly believe that God redeems all he allows, even disasters |
| 1:03.8 | like those in today's news. At the same time, I don't want to sound a positive note that would be |
| 1:09.4 | tone deaf to those who are grieving. |
| 1:11.7 | So, instead, I'll offer some very personal reflections that are different from any I've shared in the past. |
| 1:18.5 | My father died of a heart attack in 1979 at the age of 55. |
| 1:22.9 | The shock was nearly overwhelming for me and my family. |
| 1:26.2 | He had been in poor health since his first heart |
| 1:28.1 | attack 19 years earlier, but we did not expect his death to come so soon or so abruptly. |
| 1:34.3 | And I had no idea why God would allow such tragedy. The other great crisis in my life came 10 |
| 1:40.5 | years ago when our older son was diagnosed with cancer. He underwent surgery and six |
| 1:45.8 | weeks of radiation treatments. The thought that he could die from this was more than I could |
| 1:50.5 | contemplate. Watching our son go through surgery and radiation was more grievous for me than I can |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Denison Forum, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Denison Forum and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.