Soul Storm, Finding God Amidst Disaster, Reflections from a Hurricane Katrina Survivor - Hardcover

Bruce Lee Smith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1589804406 ISBN 13: 9781589804401

Publisher: Pelican Publishing, 2006

Synopsis

Reflections from a Hurricane Katrina survivor. Soul Storm is an honest and open discussion about the dark realities we all face as humans living in a broken world. Smith draws on literature, history, real-life stories, and gut-wrenching experiences as a survivor of family turmoil and nature�s recent disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, to encourage us to ask the right questions: Is God involved? Is He good? Is He speaking to us through these events individually and as a people? Can any good purpose come from such events? These and countless other questions need adequate answers amongst the rubble of our lives. This book tackles these questions head-on and offers the reader an intelligent and hopeful narrative of God�s work in the middle of disaster.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"A timely and timeless message for our country." --Mike Ennis, director of Strategic Initiatives, Convoy of Hope

"This is the message our people, our city, and our nation need right now. Bruce has offered us words of healing written with artistry. Like a great jazz composition, this deserves a hearing. The section on Coltrane is right on." --Jason Marsalis and Ellis Marsalis

"In this book we find that broken dreams, destruction, fear, and misery can actually catapult people of faith toward God’s best. Bruce reminds us, as a people and as a country, that only in turning toward God can we find a passion and purpose for rebuilding our lives amidst disaster." --Dr. William Hamel, president, Evangelical Free Church of America

"The most obvious virtue of Bruce Smith’s book is [its] scope. There is something here for everyone--on-the-scene narratives from the Katrina disaster, autobiography, excursions into literature, philosophic reflection, biblical analysis, and meditations on the meaning of suffering." --Dr. Leland Ryken, C. S. Lewis Scholar, Wheaton College

"What a timely reminder that when the rains come and all seems lost, our hope is found in the God of our salvation." --Danny Wuerffel, executive director of Desire Street Ministries, former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback

" This work ought to be on everyone’s short list of books to read this year." --Sen. Ken Hollis, District 9, Louisiana State Senate

From the Inside Flap:

"Soul Storm is a must-read for all of us who have asked the question 'why.' But not only will this great book answer the 'why' question, it will answer the 'how,' 'who,' and 'what' questions we have all asked following Hurricane Katrina. Thanks, Bruce, for showing us how to handle the storms of life!"--Dr. Fred Luter, speaker and pastor, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans

Whether or not you have ever been a victim of a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, you may have experienced the same despair, fear, and confusion that results from such a catastrophic event. The national psyche has been affected by so many recent calamities--from the Oklahoma City bombing and the Columbine shootings to September 11 and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita--that many of us are left struggling with the most difficult questions of all: why did it happen and how do we respond to it?

Bruce Lee Smith suggests that these personal and national disasters offer opportunities and can lead to rays of newfound hope. Whether it is hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, cancer, or divorce, our soul storms force us to ask critical questions: Is God involved? Is He good? Is He speaking to us through these events? Can any good purpose come from such events?

Drawing from his multifaceted background, Smith has collected insights from John Donne to John Coltrane to shine light on possible answers to these questions. Utilizing his ministerial tools as a foundation, he offers an intelligent and optimistic narrative of God's work amidst disaster. Examples from the Bible, literature, art, business, and history prove that it is possible to triumph above the rubble strewn by the storms of life. Chapters like "The Call to Something More: Walking on Water" and "Debris Removal: Healing in the Church" offer practical and spiritual advice for reflection and renewal, a chance for readers to assess the destruction in their lives and rebuild with strength and faith.

(Back Flap)

Before Hurricane Katrina, Bruce Smith was the director of development and a teaching pastor at Uptown Church in New Orleans (a Willow Creek model church) and a senior broker at an investment firm. After Hurricane Katrina, the church closed, and Smith resigned his position at the investment firm in order to devote himself full-time to writing and speaking engagements. A minister and a father of three children and two Labrador retrievers, he spends his free time on the tennis court, in the gym, running wild with his children, and as an amateur photographer. Smith is also the founder of StormKat Ministries. StormKat offers a creative, intelligent, and compelling presentation of Truth, with the goal of reaching those who desperately need the message of hope revealed in the Gospel.

Available with the book is a CD, After the Storm, a compilation of music and stories of Hurricane Katrina survivors, produced by Music for the Soul.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pelican Publishing
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1589804406
• ISBN 13: 9781589804401
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208