J. Vernon McGee summarized philosophy well. He said, “All systems of philosophy lead up a blind alley.” I agree. You can spend your time and money studying this subject and find sooner or later that it is a mere waste of time.

ATLANTA (AP) — Kirk Cousins threw for a career-high 509 yards and four touchdowns, the last of them a 45-yard scoring pass to KhaDarel Hodge in overtime that gave the Atlanta Falcons an improbable 36-30 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night.

Not all of Asheville is destroyed. Grace Baptist Church in West Asheville sits on high ground and was protected from the storm. That protection has allowed them to fill their building with donations that will be distributed to hurting individuals across the surrounding area.

MOUNT VERNON, Ga. (LBM) – Less than a week after Hurricane Helene devasted parts of the US, a Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief feeding team is on the ground to “give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name” to those affected by the powerful storm.

Tony Wolfe, executive director-treasurer for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said as he drives around his state, he sees months and months of work to do in the wake of Hurricane Helene. “This may be the biggest disaster at least in terms of wind damage that our state has ever known,” said Wolfe.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Before Hurricane Helene’s landfall last week, the National Weather Service began an all-out blitz to alert emergency planners, first responders and residents across the Southeast that the storm’s heavy rains and high winds could bring disaster hundreds of miles from the coast.

PENSACOLA, N.C. (AP) — Rescue crews and volunteers facing obstacles at every turn in North Carolina’s remote mountains paddled canoes across swollen rivers and steered horses past mudslides in the rush to reach those stranded or missing by Hurricane Helene’s rampage that killed more than 200 throughout the Southeast.

Obie Williams could hear babies crying and branches battering the windows when he answered his daughter’s daily phone call last week as Hurricane Helene tore through her rural Georgia town. Kobe Williams, 27, and her newborn twin boys were hunkering down at their trailer home in Thomson, Georgia, and starting to fear for their safety.

Sam Dutcher had just finished running errands when the 18-year-old's Honda Pilot suddenly began to accelerate, even though his foot wasn't on the gas pedal. The brake wouldn't work, he couldn't shift into neutral, and before long, the runaway SUV was speeding into the western Minnesota countryside with no way to stop.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Israeli military on Thursday warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon that are outside a U.N.-declared buffer zone, signaling that it may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week against the Hezbollah terrorist group.

HORSESHOE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — It was just a month ago that Brooke Hiers left the state-issued emergency trailer where her family had lived since Hurricane Idalia slammed into her Gulf Coast fishing village of Horseshoe Beach in August 2023.

GOMA, Congo (AP) — At least 78 people died when an overcrowded boat capsized on Lake Kivu in eastern Congo on Thursday, a local governor said. A frantic search and rescue operation was underway hours later as many remained unaccounted for from the vessel, believed to have had 278 people on board.

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (AP) — Typhoon Krathon made landfall Thursday in Taiwan's major port city of Kaohsiung, bringing torrential rains and fierce winds to the island's south. Trees were brought down by high winds and roads were flooded, prompting the closure of schools and businesses.

DETROIT (AP) — The union representing 45,000 striking U.S. dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports has reached a deal to suspend a three-day strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract.

CUMMING, Ga. — The United States has a long history of immigration. It is a country built on the backs of immigrants. The Statue of Liberty standing in the New York City harbor bears a quote from Emma Lazarus’ sonnet, “New Colossus,” that says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

We can’t trust Dixie out of our sight. (Dixie is the eight-month-old puppy my beloved rescued a month ago.) The first week she was with us, Dixie got out of her crate twice while we were gone and set off the security alarm.

SUWANEE, Ga. — The Georgia Baptist Mission Board's Financial Services Committee announced a special allocation of $500,000 dollars on Tuesday, Oct. 1, specifically to support Mission Georgia's efforts to provide direct assistance to Georgia Baptist churches, impacted ministerial staff, and community support. In addition, the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation approved a matching grant of $500,000.

SCBaptist Disaster Relief volunteers are currently providing shower units, laundry units, feeding units, chainsaw units, incident management, chaplains, and damage assessors at locations across South Carolina that were affected by Hurricane Helene.

MADISON, Fla. — In the wake of Hurricane Helene, the Madison community in north Florida has found itself in yet another season of recovery.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Republican attorney general has appealed a judge’s ruling that struck down the state’s abortion ban.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Isolated and without electricity or phone service since Hurricane Helene inflicted devastation across the Southeast nearly a week ago, residents in the mountains of western North Carolina are relying on old-fashioned ways of communicating and coping.

While hospitals and health care organizations in the Southeast largely stayed open and functioning during Hurricane Helene to provide essential care for their communities, they were not unscathed.

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) — Heavy smoke was causing low visibility Wednesday along Interstate 20 east of Atlanta as chemicals continued spewing from a beleaguered chlorine facility, and emergency officials warn that smoke from the disaster scene is projected to move toward Georgia's capital city after sunset Wednesday.

PLYMOUTH, Mich. (BP) — The search team tasked with finding the next executive director-treasure of the Baptist State Convention of Michigan (BSCM) has announced it has selected Ed Emmerling to fill the role being vacated by Tim Patterson. Patterson, who came on board in 2015, announced his retirement late last year.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Several counties in western North Carolina remain cut off following the disastrous flooding from Hurricane Helene as Southern Baptists work to bring help to those who survived the historic flash flooding that inundated the region and claimed the lives of at least 160 people across the Southeast.