Tonight turned out to be quite the rush around here.  You never can beat storms and tornadoes for making a Tuesday night become lively. Our last two days of weather can be termed as stormy to say the least.  We go for months without much rain only to be pounded by dangerous storms in the last two days.  One would hope we could settle for just some normal spring rain.  I have to announce that at least one of my church families was hit by a twister this evening.  They called me to let me know they were not injured.  It does sound like there is going to be quite a mess to clean up.  My daughter was caught in the weather but at least rode it out with friends.  She was able to remain safe and dry.  I spent most of the time either watching the unceasing weather reporting or taking care of house stuff.  Laundry waits for no amount of rain.

Watching television was pretty much hit and miss with the ongoing storms.  Two of our local stations pretty much stayed on the air during the most severe outbreaks.  Seems to me that they did a pretty good job handling the conditions.  One of the weathermen apparently needed to take a bathroom break as he sent the station into a commercial.  The other channel was juggling two of their people on air during the time.  They did occasionally talk over each other but that happens sometimes.  Most of the usual programming was bumped for minute by minute updates.  This was a huge help but you can only watch the radar movement for so long before going into overload.  You can view all of this information as helpful in knowing what to expect.  This was true with my daughter being out in the mess.  You can also view it as knowing when the big one is going to get you.  Choices like that are not easy to handle.

My youngest is a lot like me when it comes to stormy weather.  Fascination with thunderstorms and the like began for me many years ago.  One of my alternative career choices would be to become a weatherman or other forecast related job.  Being a storm chaser even appeals to me.  Do not think of my as particularly brave in this matter.  Someone who does this for a living has to be more than a daredevil.  Surely there is something a little off in the minds of these people.  We both stood on the front porch gazing into the wind and the rain.  Weather watching is amazing when all of the elements come together.  Eventually he went back inside to lay down for the night.  Thrilling displays of nature gave way to the need for sleep.

Storms come and go quickly most of the time.  They blow up then blow through.  We are left with the damaged caused in the meantime.  How often in our life do we feel helpless to do anything to change the conditions.  One great temptation in the trials or storms in our world is to simply attempt to manage what is going on around us.  We should always change anything that is in need of repair during those storms but there is more to it than that.  We tend to ask when will a trial end?  Let me suggest that the better question is who will I become with God's help because of the storm?  Ask that one and you may discover that some of the damage is good since it lets us know weak areas of our life.  Just be sure that to approach life's storms this way will call for stubborn faith to withstand the havoc.  You will not be promised any lessening of the storms but you will realize God in the midst.  You will also learn that at times this presence will have to be good enough.

Bro. Trey