It’s just an incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane. It has dropped… It has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours. I apologize. This is just horrific. Maximum sustained winds are 160 miles per hour, and it is just gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico where you can imagine the winds… I mean, the seas are just so incredibly, incredibly hot. All these hurricanes this year, all the destruction, the 10 to 15 foot waves are about to hit Tampa Bay. Well, it reminds me of a Bible verse. It’s Luke 21, 25, and it says, quote, there will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars.

On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and the tossing of the sea. Are we seeing the fulfillment of prophecy right before our very eyes? You turn on the news, what do you see? Catastrophic hurricanes, solar eclipses, and global turmoil. It’s all there in Luke 21, 25, where Jesus spoke of the signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And on the earth, distress of nations with perplexity. The sea and the waves roaring. These aren’t just poetic metaphors Jesus was using. No, they’re real. They’re tangible. Let’s break it down. Let’s start with Hurricane Milton.

There’s talk of it being the biggest hurricane on record in the history of mankind. I don’t know how accurate that is. However, it is a category five at the moment, and they are forecasting a storm surge that could reach up to 15 feet along the Gulf Coast, especially around Tampa Bay. This isn’t just your average Cat 5 hurricane. We’re talking about a storm surge so powerful that it could swallow whole neighborhoods in one of America’s largest cities. There’s more than 3 million people who live in the Tampa Bay area. If the storm surge hits like they’re forecasting, the ocean will push farther inland than ever before, causing catastrophic flooding.

Remember, Jesus said the sea and the waves roaring. Could this be it, or do you think it’s going to be something similar but on a global scale? But one thing’s for sure. Nature’s fury is about to be unleashed on a scale that we can hardly comprehend. It is really starting to go up on those history charts now. Milton is the fifth strongest storm by pressure on record in the Atlantic. The record for that is about 20 years ago with Hurricane Wilma back in 2005 with a low pressure of 882 millibars. We’ll see if it gets any lower than it is right now, but either way, Milton is already in the record books at a top five strong hurricane by pressure and the wind speed.

It is the sixth strongest in terms of estimated wind speed as well. Let’s show you the path. This is the forecast path here. Category five strength going across the Gulf of Mexico. Very unusual path for a hurricane to take, but that’s the way the winds are blowing this time around. As we get a little bit closer to Florida here, this would be Wednesday evening. Still expected to be a category four hurricane with winds at 145 miles per hour. This would be Thursday morning, and then it crosses right over the Florida peninsula.

Now remember, when we show you the forecast cone, this is not trying to communicate the size of the storm. All it’s trying to do is show you that the storm center could pass in the middle. It could pass over here. It could pass as far south as this. It could also pass as far south as far north as this part of Florida. So anywhere along the west coast here of Florida needs to be on very high alert for a possible direct hit of the storm. As of now, we still don’t know if it’ll hit here, here or there.

Those are in the realm of uncertainty. And again, it’s expected to stay a hurricane the entire way across the Florida peninsula. And then from there go due east across the Atlantic Ocean. I know that’s a little unusual. It will stay south here in the Carolinas. We are not expecting it to have major impacts or any impacts on us here in the Piedmont of North Carolina. And you say, well, why is that? I might not have seen the storm take a path quite like that before. You’re not wrong. It’s unusual. I was only able to find a couple in the record books that have taken a path like this.

Consider the symbolism of the seas rising. This isn’t just about water levels, but the turmoil it creates. We see panic, evacuations, and the inability of infrastructure to cope. This kind of chaos brings to mind the idea of perplexity among nations as world leaders struggle to address not only natural disasters, but an increasing number of overlapping crises from wars to economic instability. In addition to the devastation Milton brings, we must consider how the storm’s intensity grew almost exponentially in such a short span. The speed of change reminds us of the times Jesus warned would come suddenly and without much warning, like a thief in the night.

It’s not just about the storm, but about the pattern we’re seeing worldwide. A convergence of unsettling events that are shaking people out of their complacency. Many might argue that this is simply a product of a changing climate. We shouldn’t ignore the spiritual dimension. The weather patterns we’re witnessing could very well be part of a larger narrative that goes beyond meteorology. The rapid escalation of Hurricane Milton, the destruction it’s poised to bring, and the fear it’s inciting all feel like birth pangs, events that hint at something more profound unfolding. As the world becomes increasingly unpredictable, the importance of being grounded in faith grows.

Filling sandbags for what is predicted to be a monster storm. Here in the Tampa area, they are bracing for a gut punch only days away now from Mother Nature in the form of Hurricane Milton. Overnight it’s strengthened to a category five hurricane. Local Tampa resident Milton Cobb and his wife haven’t decided if they’re going to get out of dodge just yet. We discuss leaving, but we don’t really want to, so we’ll make our mind up in the next day or so. But Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has ordered mandatory evacuations for senior centers and health care facilities in Milton’s path.

And he has suspended tolls on most of the bridges and highways to make it easier for people to leave. You should assume that there’s going to be some form of evacuations that are going to be issued by your local county officials. More than 50 counties and millions of people in Florida are now under state of emergency orders. The storm is expected to weaken somewhat, but will still be a major category three hurricane by the time it makes landfall in Florida late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Tampa’s airport will stop operations tomorrow morning.

At 9 a.m. tomorrow morning Tuesday morning we will be closed to all passengers so that our team can begin the process of securing our airport facilities which takes up to 24 hours. There will be no flight operations arriving or departing after 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. Meantime the cleanup from Helene continues north to the Carolinas where the White House spokesperson tried to debunk social media narratives that the federal disaster relief efforts have failed miserably. President Biden and Vice President Harris continue to use every tool available to help communities devastated by Hurricane Helene. Over the weekend President Biden ordered another 500 active duty troops to move into western North Carolina.

In addition to the 1,000 troops the president previously ordered to deploy to the state. This is on top of the more than 6,100 national guardsmen and over 7,000 federal personnel all working together with their state and local counterparts to help people begin their road to rebuilding. At last count 227 people are dead from Helene. Scores of others are still missing. Electricity is still out in many areas and things won’t be getting better especially now with Milton bearing down. Pinellas County, Florida resident Annette says she has a really bad feeling about this one.

We’ve been through a few storms but and you always worry but this one there’s something about this one that I’m feeling very uneasy about. [tr:trw].