Two television journalists killed as Alberto makes landfall

The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers have met in the NBA Finals the last three years. Now they’ll meet again, after the Warriors defeated the Houston Rockets last night. The Cavaliers’ LeBron James will be playing in his eighth-straight championship series.

When the playoffs began, these were the teams favored to reach the finals. It seems fitting that they will compete once again for the title.

In other news, however, the world seems anything but fair.

Mike McCormick and Aaron Smeltzer of NBC affiliate WYFF in Greenville, South Carolina, were killed yesterday as Subtropical Storm Alberto swept ashore on Florida’s Panhandle. The storm spread as far as North Carolina, where a tree fell on their vehicle. Forecasters expect heavy rain and flooding today.

In other weather news, Ellicott City, a community of 66,000 in Maryland, is dealing with its second devastating flood in two years. One official spoke for many: “My heart is broken thinking about what people are going through here, and the people’s lives who were devastated two years ago and they rebuilt, and now they’re faced with the same daunting task again.”

And lava from Hawaii’s erupting Kilauea volcano has reached the Puna Geothermal Venture plant. Though officials were prepared, a rupture could set off an explosion, releasing hydrogen sulfide and other dangerous gases into the environment.

Today’s news reminds us that we are not in control of our world–and never were.

“You, O Lord, are God alone”

Eight centuries before Christ, the Assyrian Empire was the world’s great superpower. Their armies captured the ten northern tribes of Israel and threatened to destroy Jerusalem.

Isaiah 22 describes the city’s preparations for the coming siege.

Residents diverted water into a pool inside the city (v. 9) and fortified their walls (v. 10). Then they “made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool” (v. 11a), digging a tunnel from the Gihon…