Storm Shelter

We spent part of yesterday evening hunkered down in our basement. The tornado sirens sounded when a funnel cloud was spotted over a town about eighteen miles south of us. The weather around us looked to be in pretty good shape, but there were definitely darkening skies moving our way.

It was interesting what my two children and I brought to the basement. I went into emergency mode - flashlights, cell phone, radio, and the laptop to keep up with Doppler radar. My son went into might-as-well-keep-yourself-busy mode and brought his Nintendo DS and charger cord (was he thinking we were going to be down there a really long time, or that he could find an outlet amidst the rubble until help could come?). My daughter went into preservation mode and brought her vast collection of songs she’s written (well over a hundred), her latest diary, and her iPod (I’ll never be able to replace all the songs I have on there!).

The dog, well, he got to the basement about ten minutes before we did. He hates thunder. He spent the entire time quivering under the stairs. When he wasn’t pooping out of sheer nervousness.

The funnel cloud passed north of us, sending nickel-sized hail and vertical rain beyond our city limits. Things were relatively tame where we were. After about 45 minutes we packed everything up, cleaned up the dog’s mess, and went about life as usual.

I was reminded of Psalm 46, the beginning of which says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Since beginning this blog we’ve gone through several challenges - flooding, earthquake, my husband losing his job, moving to a new home (a good challenge, but a challenge nonetheless).

If you’re a living, breathing human being, there’s always something going on, even if on the outside everything appears normal. There are personal issues, family issues, relational issues, worries about the future, regrets about the past, sin we try to cover up, sin that gets exposed. Life is always in a state of flux, some of it in our control, a lot of it not.

One thing that never changes, though, and that’s our God. When we’re trying to make sense of things, when life comes at us hard, we’ll do well to keep the focus off of ourselves and place it on the One who can make a difference.

Therefore we will not fear, though
the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the
heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with
their surging.
There is a river whose streams
make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most
High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
He lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Psalm 46:2-7, 10-11