Facing the storm

I had big plans for several blog posts this week, and they have been continually squashed flat by life. The good thing is that more blog posts have been added, DUE to life. One day at a time, people... one day at a time. THIS post has been wafting through my head since Saturday, and it needs to come on out before it totally wafts away.

We had big storms across our area of the country on Saturday; we live in an area that receives regular "severe thunderstorm/tornado" watches and warnings throughout the spring. We've even had a tornado pass above us here at the creek; it went over Lost Mountain, came down on the other side, and left a mile-wide swath of destruction. I'll never forget the unworldly sounds that came from our dog and cat as they huddled in fear in the garage, nor will I forget the eerie still of the eye as it passed over us. My mother has had a tornado go right over her house as well; I guess it is, in a way, a Southern rite of passage. Having been close enough to a tornado to hear the roar, I tend to listen closely when storms are breaking out, and Saturday was no exception. Mid-morning, the skies turned dark and hail beat down so heavily that I could barely see past the edge of our backyard fence. I read about the destruction in Yazoo City, Mississippi and realized that our little hailstorm could easily just be the appetizer for a grand weather event. The thing that really struck fear in my heart was the timing; according to the weather models, the front that flattened Yazoo City was due to hit us after dark.
I don't know about you, but I do MUCH better facing storms during daylight hours. The winds may blow just as fiercely at noon as midnight, the rain and hail may pour down in the same abundance. But the abiilty to see what's happening, no matter how challenging, makes it bearable. As I went to bed Saturday night, I prayed for the shelter of God's arms around us in the storms. When I woke up, it became apparent that the system had spent itself before reaching us, and I was grateful. However, it also made me start thinking about the storms of life. We all face them at one time or another, and some folks seem to live in "tornado alley" when it comes to the bad stuff. Some people weather them better than others, and I realized that it's because their storms never happen in the dark. Embracing the Father's love means embracing the light, or rather the Light of the world. It lights our path, and we can cast away fear with the sure knowledge that we will never again have to face our storms in the dead of night.