Southern Baptists Continue to Serve Maui, Importance of Prayer On and Off the NASCAR Track & Praying Through Disappointment

Hundreds of Hawaiians reached out over the weekend to notify authorities they are o-k. Maui County authorities issued a list of almost 400 people on Friday that had not been located since the devastating fires in early August.

The death toll is now at 115.

Send Relief President Bryant Wright spoke with Hawaii pastor Rocky Komatsu, who said three things Christians can do support Maui are pray, give and prepare to come.

Maui County also filed a lawsuit Thursday, Aug. 24, against Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and its subsidiaries alleging the company’s failure to shut off power despite warnings from the National Weather Service was a major cause of the wildfires. This comes in addition to a separate class-action lawsuit filed against HECO by law firm Morgan & Morgan on behalf of victims.

The lawsuits come amid allegations that HECO improperly and illegally removed damaged equipment, such as power poles, from post-fire scenes before giving national investigators the chance to examine the evidence to determine a cause for the wildfires.
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NASCAR driver outspoken about his faith.

Nascar driver Michael McDowell says his faith in Jesus impacts everything he does whether its on the track or in own living room.

McDowell has spoken publicly about his faith in places that range from pit row to a studio where he filmed an I Am Second video last year.

This year, McDowell shared John 3:16 and a brief message in a chapel service for drivers and fans before the race in Talladega, Alabama. He said God turned his life around through faith in Jesus Christ.
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People are busy. And even busy people face disappointment. In the Baptist Press Toolbox, Kie Bowman says that to deal with disappointment, the believer must slow down to spend time with God.

He writes, “Sitting in the presence of God is counterintuitive in a 24-hour-news-cycle culture of constant activity. We want to “do” something, because we’ve forgotten that praying is doing something. In a skeptical society where, for some, “thoughts and prayers” sound like hollow promises, we might be tempted to forget that “Prayer,” in the words of Charles Spurgeon, “is the slender nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence.”

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