Praying urgently, I pleaded the title to The Clash song, “Should I stay or should I go?” I would feel guilty if I left behind the people I was staying with, the handicapped and elderly. The news was saying to call 311 for bus rides out of the city, so I understood that it was their choice to stay. My friend Johnny Torrez was telling me we could pray the storm away, insisting that we had the authority in Christ to make it leave, but I wasn’t so sure that was true. In fact, earlier in the week, at a prayer meeting I had opened my Bible randomly to a scripture I felt was appropriate for this storm, one that declared it to be God’s judgement, and as I prayed again I was about to get the same results. I prayed, and flipped open the word of God, to Jeremiah 51:1, which says Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind. I kept reading, and soon came upon this in Jer 51:6, Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this [is] the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence. At that point I made up my mind to leave Houston, I had to obey this call. In some ways I felt weak for having made the decision, as if I wasn’t tough enough, but compared to God, I’m not. So I chose to obey. I had a knee injury, and the doctor recommended I stay off it for a few days. I knew also this wasn’t going to be fun or convenient in the midst of hurricane winds, flood water and power outages. I empted to leave the city, but not before warning several people with my findings in the Bible. I told them what God told me, that I had peace to go, and was leaving. So I took off and left, not stopping at my house to get supplies, but just with what I had taken to Johnny’s. It felt good to be on top of things, and secretly I gloated over the victory. I realized later that this wasn’t right, that people were ignorantly and needlessly staying within the city and just didn’t know any better but to stay. I felt sorry for them, and warned as many friends and strangers to call the evacuation bus or leave town. I’m not sure if any actually left, most just proudly saying, I’m staying. Oh well, I had a nice comfortable house to go to in Austin, many of them would have to flee to a shelter, I guess they were willing to brave the odds. 3 years earlier, another storm threatened our city, Rita, only to turn to the north and hit another city. Meanwhile it seemed like a million drivers locked together in an exsplosive and desparate party attempt out of Houston. It was “hell on wheels” for some, fearing their life after seeing the most recent hurricane, Katrina, hit New Orleans with chaos ensuing. This was its own form of fear inspired chaos, with gas shoirtages, road rage and dehydration. But what was this Babylon. Certainly Houston wasn’t Babylon, or was it? How could it be? The difference between Babylon and Houston isn’t much, if you look at the heart of the cities.