Tornado

I have lived in Alabama for the last four years, and, for the most part, I have enjoyed the experience, that is until last week. I can't say that I enjoyed last Wednesday one bit.

We all heard the warnings and the concern... this was suppose to be one of those rare days when all the conditions were right for severe storms or tornadoes! Well, as I have said, I have lived here for four years and have heard these warnings before only to have them not turn out as bad as the forecast.

The day began with a delayed start to our school day, following county and city lead as is our policy. I had been up since 4:30 trying to get some idea on what we were in for during the day. I was checking two websites, two news stations and the radar with the hope of getting one of them to give me a time frame concerning when the really severe weather was going to hit. To my frustration, no one could provide that information because storms began to pop up everywhere. By the time we evacuated the campus and I walked through my front door, it was 1:30. I truly thought the worst part of the day was behind me; how wrong I was.

From 1:30 - 3:30 rain and wind came and went. The weather radio went off every 10 minutes or at least it seemed that way. Around 4:30 our power went out, and we were without radar, news and updates. We had the NOAA weather radio which was keeping us informed but nothing more. I had hired our new high school principal a month earlier, and he was from Oklahoma City. He was keeping us updated with texts to my phone as he watched the news and radar. It was surreal that someone so far away had more information than we did at this time.

The sirens went off quite often throughout the afternoon. Each time they went off into our little storm shelter under the stairs went the kids and sometimes my wife. She would usually join me at the window or out on the porch as we watched for coming weather. I don't know why we did that... maybe we thought if we watched closely, that would be enough to keep the severe weather away.

Late in the afternoon another siren blast sent our kids into our shelter once again. My wife and I went to the porch to see what was the cause of this siren. What we saw gathering in the clouds over our neighborhood actually sent me to the shelter first. She stayed a few more seconds to snap a few pictures and then joined us in the shelter with wide eyes. We sat there looking at each other trying to remain calm for our children yet expecting any minute to be hit with the brunt of high winds. Thankfully, they never came.

The day extended to evening and finally, mercifully, around 8:00 the last of the storms left Madison County. It was a Wednesday that I and many others will never forget. Madison County was hit hard, but not as hard as Tuscaloosa, Phi Campbell, Hackleburg and Mount Pleasant. We were truly blessed and spared any real damage to our home and our street.

Sometimes the Almighty allows things to happen that do not make sense at this moment in time. This would be one of those times for me. I have read many comments regarding God and tornadoes... "how could a loving God allow such tragedy to happen?" For me, that is the wrong question. The right question is this: why does he not destroy us all? He is a holy just God who demands perfection; we are clearly not perfect so why not wipe us off the map and start over? We all start over with our attempts at prose, artwork and song all the time; why not God? I will tell you why! Because, He is also a loving God who saw our problem... ourselves... and provide a path back to Him. He knew we could not get back on our own due to our sin so He sent His only Son to be our path back. To save us from ourselves so we can come back to our Creator through His perfect Son and His perfect record.

Nonsense! Craziness! Those are some of the responses to this idea of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Craziness... really, who would make up something like this? The first shall be last... love your neighbor as yourself... give your life as a ransom for many... give away all your possessions... what benefit does one get for inventing this kind of "religion," especially if it was really a lie?

Is it time to consider who Jesus is? Examine the gospel of John and ask God to reveal Himself to you! Blessings!