We survived our first severe weather outbreak of the summer. Thank you, Lord.
I think I’ve mentioned it before (ahem) but I loathe severe weather. I grew up in tornado alley…in the panhandle of Texas…without a basement…and with far inferior weather technology. It wasn’t that fun to me.
I remember going through a couple of springs where tornado warnings were issued every.single.night; it was like clock work. We’d get home from school and have no time for dinner before we had to hunker down in the hallway (remember, no basement), throw a mattress over our head and pray. My mom would be in the living room watching the TV and my dad would be on the front porch storm spotting. (Nuts!)
I remember a night that we were all so tired of the weather. We had been in the hallway every night that week and it had just gotten long and wearing. My brother was starving and I remember him praying, “Lord, please keep up safe…especially the kitchen because I’m so hungry!” HA!
My grandparents came to visit one weekend and my grandma likes tornadoes about as much as I do. Sure enough, that night all the sirens were going off…the tornado was about a mile from our house. My mom, brother, aunt and I were sheltering in a closet and my grandma was in our bathtub “praying with a cricket.”
A tornado did hit the backyard of our home on two different occasions AND a small one hit our house in Brighton the last year we were there. Do I attract these things, or what?!
Technology has come sooooooooo incredibly far; it’s fascinating to me! Growing up, there would be a little thunderstorm and/or tornado symbol in the bottom corner of the TV – no map. If it was just an outline, it was a watch…if it was filled in, it was a warning. If and when it was a warning, it wasn’t just letting you know it was heading your way like they do now…it meant there was a tornado on the ground – take shelter! I prefer today’s method. 🙂 The lead time they’ve been able to gain and the specificity with which they can predict is just amazing.
I do feel like that for the past two years it has missed us more than it has hit us, thankfully. I firmly believe it is the Lord protecting this little area that we have prayed His protection over. There will be storms all around us and they will arch up and over us…like today.
I am thankful we have a basement. I am thankful for advanced weather technology. I’m thankful for friends and family who pray, text and call. I’m thankful for live internet feeds and buried fiber optic cables. I am most thankful for the One who even the wind and the waves obey.