Helpless

I hope everyone around the area survived the 2nd bad storm we've had in the past week. It's February - what is the deal with tornado's in winter time? I'm all for Al Gore & the environment being completely screwed up! 60 & 70 degree weather the past few days & did I hear? Snow flakes tomorrow? Its not good watching "The Day after Tomorrow" either when all this is happening. (Note to self: if stranded in a ice storm - be in a library with lots of books for burning fire! Who says movies aren't helpful!)

Well, I knew the storms were coming but Ryan was bored & called & said, "Wanna play Guitar Hero?" - SURE! So he came over & we ended up playing for 3 hours - not even realizing that the storm is closer & closer. Yeah, I thought I saw lightening flashing but I thought it was because the electricity coming off my fingers on the guitar!

We didn't even realize the time - Ricky had gone to bed, the dogs were all laying down, and at this point, I was knitting while Ryan was going to town & we looked at the clock - it was 11:30! EEK! I've got to get up at 5:30 - time for bed. So Ryan leaves & I get settled into bed & as soon as my head hits the pillow, I hear sirens. At first, I think its just the ringing in my ears - they haven't been very well lately anyways & after all that music (some of those songs - UGH!) - so I decide to turn on the news. WOW - we are under a tornado warning & those are real sirens!

I woke up Ricky, all the dogs followed us downstairs & we watched the TV as we heard about the storms coming through & the tornado that had already killed 14 people in this same system! How was all this going on? I was in the happy world of Van Halen playing "Girl, You really got me now".

But sitting in the basement, watching the times of when things would "hit" as reported by the neighborhood weathe guy - it really is a helpless feeling. We have no windows downstairs - but we do have the walk out doors & man, those doors were shaking, rattling & the noise of the winds & rain & hail - WOW! I was waiting for any minute to hear that "train" sound that everyone says a tornado sounds like. Now, I'm not afraid of storms - I've even talked about that before, about my love of storms & me & my dad sitting in the middle of them - but man, the damage these storms have been causing. That's where you feel so helpless. Wouldn't it be nice if we could stop these things from being so powerful? We knew they were coming - knew they were going to be harsh - & we couldn't stop it - couldn't do a thing about it. I'm sitting in the basement, anxious to see what is being torn up outside with 100 mph winds & thinking, "God can just speak the word & these huge winds would stop!" Isn't that amazing power?

Then the thing that really strikes me - these storms get us back to where we need to be. Yes, it needs to be snowing in February - not a 70 degree day. Is this because of the way we treated our environment? I don't know - & I can get on a whole other topic about that on another day - but it just shows how the world takes care of itself - sets things in balance. It just showed me, once again, how powerful our God is - how everything is in His hands. So, I may have been helpless in the midst of this storm - & I know there will be more to come - but I know God isn't helpless - so that's all that matters to me!