I have been playing hurricane dodge ball. This is how you play.

Arise early in the morning every day and immediately bring up the Bermuda weather site on the internet, then click "tropicals" (in the left hand menu), and then click on "National Hurricane Center" (down at the bottom with the url http://www.nhc.noaa.gov).

You will see a map of the Atlantic, showing the coast of Africa and the top coast of South America, the Caribbean, and the eastern coast of the United States. And there, off the coast of North Carolina, is Bermuda. The map shows any active tropical cyclone, including any potential cyclone. As I write, Hurricane Danielle has missed us some 200-plus miles to the east, and it looks as if Hurricane Earl will miss us by at least as much to the west. This map also provides data on anticipated paths and wind strengths.

I am thinking everyone in Bermuda knows about this map. However, perhaps someone might not know about another site on the internet connected to tracking hurricanes. It is called "Stormpulse," and it's located at http://www.stormpulse.com

This site tracks all current hurricanes and tropical storms, and it also, like the noaa.com site above, provides data on potential storms. What is nice about this site, however, is the graphical display of data. The map shows the rough undersea terrain, so that one can see where relatively shallow water and relatively deeper water is located. If you click on a radio button that says, "forecast models" one can see all the various computer generated estimates about where a particular storm is likely to go (and it is these computer models that weather predictors use to give us their estimates of the path of any given hurricane). So, you can play out the odds and watch as the storm moves through its path and these various models adjust.

In the case of Danielle, for instance, I watched the models all predict her sudden turn to the east, while all along she'd been headed straight for us. With Earl, for a while half the models showed him coming over the top of us, and half going between us and the east coast of the United States. As he developed from a tropical storm into a hurricane, all the models converged, showing him missing us to the west. In a potential storm (what would be called Fiona), all these models currently indicate she would go over the top of us, but she isn't even a tropical depression yet. One might say, Fiona has yet to be conceived, so her birth is a long way off and many things can happen during such a storm's "pregnancy".

Also at the Stormpulse site you can bring up the cloud cover, and it is interesting to see how large a given storm is. You can see what the projected strength of any given storm might be at various points along its path. You can read the discussion of the meteorologists analysing the weather. It's all interesting to me, but in my reporting the developing and constantly changing conditions, I have become known as the "voice of doom" in our office.

My wife believes that if we lived in the mid-west section of the United States, I would have a pickup truck with wind speed instruments on the back, and I'd be chasing tornadoes across the landscape. There is something fascinating about so much natural energy being released all at once. I confess to loving a storm.

When we lived in the Pacific Northwest I used to love the storms that would blow in from the Gulf of Alaska. Some of those storms could reach hurricane force, and they would blow down huge evergreen trees in the forest surrounding our house.

Come to think of it, there are two aspects to creation that captivate my attention and start me thinking. One is the beauty of it, including the way systems in nature display the intricate interdependency in its design. The other is the power evident in nature.

During Danielle we watched the storm surf at Warwick Long Bay. It changed the bottom going out from the beach under the water. We swam in swells at Admiralty House, with the wind blowing the tops of the waves into our faces. That was such a small taste of the power that resides in nature, and it dwarfs what power I have in me to accomplish any particular thing.

These two things – intricate, beautiful design and enormous, overwhelming power – turn my attention to God. Paul said God's "… invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made…"

God's touch displays a delicate strength. Danielle looked amazing from several miles above the earth, but being down on the ground in a category four storm would be terrifying. Gazing down inside the petals of a flower, glistening with pollen, is like observing a star system light years away. Contemplating the synapse of neurons, glowing with neurological energy, is like peering at life itself – a universe inside our heads. These things make me marvel, and I cannot understand how anyone can possibly take it all for granted as "just the way things are".

To me God is a Being of incredible beauty and creativity. I have no problem understanding that part of the Westminster Confession that affirms that the chief end, or purpose, of mankind is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. That will not be something onerous, something difficult, because it will come as naturally in eternity as it does now in this life with its limits, doubts, and challenges to the existence of God. For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, the beauty and power of God are inescapable. You don't need to have special instruments loaded on the back of a pick up truck, and you don't need to chase down the reminders inherent in the general storm. All you have to do is to stand still and take a closer and more patient look at what exists all around, riding the swells of life and facing the wind.

What or who could make such beauty? What kind of power would be needed to express such creativity? It's a no-brainer to me.