Prayers for the dead and those who have lost loved ones and their homes and jobs in Joplin, Missouri following Sunday’s incredible tornado. The devastation (right now categorized as resulting from a F4, but I’m sure will end up being a F5) is both breathtaking and heartbreaking in its breadth and scope.

I don’t know about you, but to me it sure seems there’s an ill wind blowing this 2011, and I’m not just talking about the weather here in the U.S. during this historic and deadly tornado season. All across this planet we’ve seen a series of earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and floods one after the other, and I doubt we’ve seen the end of them (or perhaps even the worst of them) yet. Maybe it’s just me, but there’s this little warning bell that’s been ringing inside me for some time that says there’s some other major shoe about to drop. Don’t know how, don’t know where. Could be a war in the Middle East, could be another major economic correction resulting from the lack of will and leadership in Washington to do anything about our dire economic situation and spiralling debt. I just feel something bad is coming, I just hope and pray I’m wrong.

As a religious man, I can’t help but feel God is trying to tell the world something, but fewer and fewer people even consider a loving and merciful God relevant in their lives. And I have no faith at all in the Campaigner-in-Chief that presently occupies the White House to show any kind of capability or willingness to be a leader and bring people together. Which is too bad, because I feel we’re gonna need someone like that at the top before too long.

There’s an ill wind blowing out there, for sure…