Winds, Water, Rain and Thunderstorms

When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,

when he made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,

then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.

And he said to the human race,
"The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding."
Job 28:25-28 (NIV)

As a little girl who grew-up in the country, my father always took us kids outside onto the front porch whenever a storm was coming. We felt safe with him sitting there for we knew he would never put us in harm's way. And so I have never been afraid of clapping thunder and I've always loved to see lightning streak across the skies.

When we built our home, we didn't realize we were positioned at the highest point of the county and in the middle of what the locals call the cauldron. It didn't take long before we found ourselves quite shocked by the severe weather that would appear out of nowhere. The first time it happened, Caleb was about four and Rachel was two. We saw that a storm was coming in, so hoping to pass along those fond childhood memories, we grabbed a couple of chairs, gave everyone a Popsicle, placed the kids on our laps, and waited for the storm.

A new home was about to be built across the street from us (maybe 500 feet away). The basement was dug and a huge mound of dirt sat on the backside of the property. It was not raining yet. It was not lightning. The wind was not blowing. We were just minding our business and watching the sky, enjoying our Popsicles. That quickly came to an end when dirt started flying out of the basement. In an instant, we heard trees snapping. Yes, that quickly. We grabbed the kids and ran to our basement for safety. When all was said and done, we had six big trees down, our neighbors had trees on their houses, and the little village where we live looked like it had been ripped to shreds. All of this damage was from wind shear--a tornado that doesn't touch down.

This has happened to us at least three more times over the 14 years we've lived here. The front of our property used to be heavily wooded. Today, there's just a handful of trees. At least we've got lots of great firewood!

I've gone from being a storm lover with many fond memories to a storm loather. My poor Rachel is terrified of storms. This girl has seen far too many twisted trees.

We have had two tornado warnings in the past four days. Last Friday night as we were coming home from our pizza party and game night, we were driving in a storm, but it seemed most of the heavy stuff was north of where we were. We continued driving west when all of a sudden the Emergency Broadcasting System came on the radio. We've heard this many times, however, this wasn't just a test. Well, it appeared as though the very place we were heading (aka home) had perfect conditions for a tornado. We took the next exit and sought shelter at my dear brother and sister-in-love's house. We waited until all the warnings had expired, then drove home. Thankfully, there was no tornado and there was no wind damage.

This brings us to last night. We were just minding our business, when the phone rang. My sister-in-love called to tell us that she heard our little village was once again under a tornado warning. We quickly turned on the television and, sure enough, a big cell was moving our way.

I have to say, I just couldn't believe it. My heart started pounding. I could see the look on Rachel's face. However, Mr. Wonderful was convinced it wasn't coming our way (which I did not believe because Mr. Weatherman, who has a degree in meteorology, said it was) and, Caleb, well, I think he enjoys watching how each one of us reacts so differently. He's calm, cool, and collected.

We've taken refuge in our basement too many times over the years. We have a flashlight ready and a little corner where we huddle together. Every single time...every single time, we pray together as a family and ask for God's protection--not only for ourselves, but for our neighbors, and others who might be in the path of the wicked weather.

Last night, we kept watch as this huge spinning cell headed straight for us. And then, it just disappeared into thin air. Even Mr. Weatherman commented, "Look at that! It's gone. I think it's gone!"

You do know how to spell "coincidence" don't you?

G.O.D.

Winds, water, rain, and thunderstorms are all controlled by the hand of the Creator.

Resting in His hands,