Ignoring the Approaching Storm

Ignoring the Approaching Storm

10/14/13

For the past few decades our nation and other democratic societies there have had a few close encounters with other regions that do not share the same ideologies and concepts.  While this type of activity is not unusual it has raised a few questions about our priorities and what would actually occur if things really became reality.  It is familiar territory when leaders begin to use threatening tones towards each other but what if both domestic and foreign situations arise at once, are we as humans prepared to handle them all at once?  The signs are ever present within our world yet it seems like we would rather ignore them and place our trust in other humans to ensure our safety and lives.  This game of hide and seek has actually become a part of our thrill seeking demeanor to which could one day come back to haunt us if we do not seek the truth about what is approaching.

A popular genre on the television networks now-a-days is about the subject of storm chasing.  My parents always said that if you play with fire one time soon you will get burned, this is excellent advice yet we like to ignore it until something tragic occurs.  While chasing, photographing and documenting storm activities are exciting in theme everyone must understand that there is a reason why storms are dangerous to individuals and communities.  The thrill of the moment and capture of a monumental picture can bring some fame or talkative points but what looms in the distance will eventually bring to reality of those pictures into light within a short period of time.

This past spring I had the wonderful privilege of travelling to my home state to attend my niece’s college graduation.  I was a very fast trip with its completion taking only five days.  Four of the five days were hard travel and I had the opportunity to witness some of the unstable weather along the way, in fact it rained or snowed on me all five days of the trip, it was great.  As I pulled into north Texas and was clipping along my eyes were focused on the road ahead of me and I was not really paying much attention to what was behind me.  As I was listening to a local Christian radio station the National Weather Service Alert System interrupted the song that was playing to announce that a severe thunderstorm watch had been issued for certain counties of northern Texas.

Claiming Texas as my home I surrounded myself with as much information about Texas when I was in school and with this knowledge tucked away in my brain the alert message sent some unnerving waves through my body.   As soon as the alert message had ended I immediately knew that two of the counties that were mentioned in the message had significant meaning since one of them I was currently moving through and the other was the next county that I would enter.  I began to survey the clouds around me and noticed a few ominous ones to my left, towards the north, and a few in front of me as well.  These caught my eye because even though they did not look too threatening at that moment, I was familiar with the territory and fully understood why the area is referred to as “Tornado Alley.”  That area had the reputation of storms developing rapidly and hitting with devastating force.  As I continued forward my eyes continued their projection ahead of me and I did not even think to take a good look behind me and when I did I only looked at the road and not the sky.

A few short miles passed and the weather service screeched once again but this time they had changed the severe thunderstorm watch into a severe thunderstorm warning and included a few more counties while they were speaking.  Yes, the counties that were mentioned included the same two that I was in and going into.  As I drew closer to the county line the clouds in front of me began to darken further and it seemed like a black color developed within them in only a short few seconds, perfect ugly weather in the south.  The weather service came back on within a few seconds of its last words and issued a tornado watch for the county that I was currently in which got my attention quickly.

The sky darkened further and now the building storm was almost upon the cars that were headed almost due east along the highway.  Cars travelling west had their windshield wipers going and I could tell that they were wet.  Interestingly the cars moving west were not going very fast like they were gathering themselves after a tragic event; this I would soon realize.  About a mile later the rain drops began to fall and soon it was a nice heavy downpour.  This was not too bad I thought until the first of the hail balls landed on my windshield.  Then another and another and within a few seconds of the first hail ball they were falling all around me and in a heavy manner as well.  So heavy that all of us had no choice but to pull over to the side of the road and wait till it eased.

As I sat there and listened to the hail hit the car the weather service returned on the radio and notified us that damaging hail was falling in the area.  This was the only time that I made fun of the weather service but I could not help myself since they were a few minutes late with that information.  Anyway, I continued to sit there in that location for approximately ten minutes while the hail continued to pound away as it landed hard on the car surfaces.  Of course the only thought I had at that moment was if there would be any, or how extensive, damage would be on the car after this storm was over.

The storm eventually went to the south of me and all of the cars had the capability of returning to their travelling destinations, including myself.  The rain was still coming down at a fair clip but it did not hinder me any longer.  The weather service continued their messages and I continued my drive eastward towards my stopping place.  I could not get the thought about the possible damage to the car caused by the hail so I came to the conclusion that as soon as the rain stopped I would get out and survey the damage.  The rain continued for another ten to fifteen miles and then all of a sudden the sun appeared.  A welcome and relaxing site to me but then more dark clouds appeared in the distance as well.

At this point I realized that some cars that were headed west had stopped along the side of the road and people were walking around them kind of anxiously.  Of course my mind thought that with the clouds ahead and them coming from that direction that another hail storm was in my immediate future.  As I continued to try and find a dry and flat spot to pull over I noticed more and more cars stopped on the other side of the road and then a few appeared on my side of the road as well.  As I passed another car on the side of the road I noticed that one person was standing behind his vehicle and had a large camera mounted on a tri-pod which was pointed in the direction behind me.  At the same time I noticed that all of the people in those cars heading west were facing behind me and for a few seconds I could not figure out why, that is until I finally looked in my rear view mirror and looked in the sky this time and not at the cars on the road.

I have included a couple of pictures at the beginning of this article to give a detail of what I saw when I looked at the sky behind me.  Being in western Colorado for over 20 years I had almost forgotten what a wall cloud looked like but as soon as my brain processed its form I immediately understood exactly what it could form.  I pulled over and stopped the car.  I got out and took a quick survey of the car for hail damage and praise God there was no damage at all.  I quickly got back in the car and called my family to let them know that I was alright and I was only a few miles from my destination.  The sense of urgency to reach my destination as soon as possible hit me hard for I did not want to be caught in another storm or tornado if possible. 

I was amazed at just how many people had pulled off to the side of the road, ignoring the potential for dangerous conditions to watch the clouds form behind me.  I could not help but think about what would happen if that tornado had formed while they were standing there and caught then in a compromised position.  Their thrill to see the storm develop was greater than the sense and the need to find shelter, and this concept really disturbs me.  Being from the south I have witnessed many violent storms and while I find them fascinating to encounter their might and energy can destroy a human in an instant.  Yes, storms are part of nature and they are natural in form but we do have the “smarts” to do our best to stay out of their paths and to protect ourselves as much as possible.

I am also reminded about the old history story about Pompeii and how that city was totally annihilated by an eruption of Mt Vesuvius.  The people of Pompeii had received many warnings from the earth about the potential for the impending volcano a few weeks before the eruption and then again one week before the large explosion occurred, which rained down burning lava and molten rock upon their city.  The warnings were made clear to them and while some of the residents left the majority of the population decided not to leave and to continue business as usual.  Even though we are not living through that period of time we can imagine that many of the people within Pompeii looked up towards that mountain and stared at it for a long period of time and wondered about its potential and / or beauty.  How many people talked about what was occurring and sought advice about leaving or staying in the area, with this being part of our history we may never know exactly how many people thought about leaving but we are sure that thousands of people did not and everyone of them did not survive the result of that “storm”

When humans are involved one can assume that certain and common practices are adhered to and looking and gazing upon a storm can fall within that category.  I myself sat in front of a large window and watched a nasty thunderstorm pass over us while we lived in Arkansas.  My mother was furious with me because of what I was doing but I was enthralled with all of the lightning and thunder that was coming from above.  And if I was a boy and doing this back in the 1970s then I know that those young boys and other people within the limits of Pompeii did the exact same thing when the volcano erupted.  I was lucky that no damage was received on my car when I was travelling through the storm in Texas and I was glad that our house did not get struck by the many lightning bolts that danced around our city in Arkansas but what if those storms had the same effect on my life as it did when Mt Vesuvius erupted?  I had the choice of being a protected shelter but chose not to even though I had plenty of time to hide.  What made me stay?

Many of us have heard the story or watched the movie “The Wizard of Oz.”  We all know that sometimes storms come out of nowhere but for the most part we have some short amount of time before the storm hits.  Dorothy could not find her dog and thus was caught inside the house and not in the shelter with the other people in the area.  We all know what happened afterwards and even though the story had a happy ending it is not a guarantee that our storms will end up in this manner.  Storms can come in a vast amount of ways and each one is specific in nature and its timing.  One of the most important issues that we tend to ignore is that most of our storms of a human level come as a result of choices that we make.  These choices can be on a personal level or they can be on a societal level, it does not matter a storm is a storm and it represents hard times for everyone around us if we do not change our ways and prepare for the worst.

Our country and the way of life that we are used to is about to encounter a similar type of storm and it is imperative that we begin to prepare ourselves for its arrival.  It is apparent that the majority of this society does not care about the direction that we are headed in and the reason for this is because we have turned our eyes upon ourselves and have accepted the ways of the world and have pushed God out of our hearts.  It is ok for us to do this for God has placed within our lives the ability to choose, but know that He will allow things to occur and for us to go through until we change our ways back to Him.  It is also obvious that the minor or small warnings that have been thrown out to us that most of us are deliberately ignoring. 

The warnings have not only come from a Godly perspective but on a humanistic level as well.  And when the warnings are noticed by people who do not know God they must be pretty loud and clear in their messages.  The messages that I received from the weather service on my trip were bold, to the point and straight forward.  They had clear definition and it was made clear that everyone who heard them understood the potential for damage.  Yet, I witnessed many people seeking a thrill to watch a developing storm and not seek shelter as soon as possible.

In truth the most dangerous portion of a storm is not the one that is pounding away at you or your location but the portion of the storm that is in the distance that is developing and you have no idea of its strength or the potential the storm has.  It is at this time that we need to prepare ourselves for the impending impact of the storm or to get out of the way of its path, not to gawk at its beauty.  Right now, is the time that we must choose to make our decision for the storm will soon be upon us.  The time for watching its development is over and it is my advice to you that we turn and seek God’s face once again so that we may understand what to do, whether it is time to prepare for the storm or to find out we have time to go in another direction but we shall never know this advice unless we turn back to God.

If we are to face this storm then we must know where to be and how to be prepared.  If the storm can be bypassed then we need to understand in which direction we must travel to avoid the storm.  Whichever is the case we must have our spiritual eyes and ears fixed upon God so that we can know what to do for it is not our understanding that we can lean upon.  Read history and one will notice that when man does things on his own some good may arise but in hindsight another option would have been better.  God can provide that better option if we just listen for Him.  We also understand that life is full of storms and as we pass through one and look ahead of us we might see darkened skies once again.  No matter what the condition or how many storms we might have to face God will always give us the perfect path.

The warnings are clear and we can avoid devastation if we just listen to God once again.  Allow Him to restore what we have lost from the other storms that we have encountered and let us not have to face another one if at all possible.  God loves us and He understands our desire for progression for He is the one that instilled that gift within us, but it is our enemy who uses this gift to further our division from God and among mankind as well.  It is time we stop looking at the storm that is approaching and do what is necessary to avoid its sustaining damage.  God is the only way and if we turn towards Him with a pure, honest and humble heart He will grant us the knowledge to restore peace within our nations again.

DLB