Touchdown!

Unfortunately, I’m not talking about the football kind of touchdown.

It’s Springtime in Texas.

While that’s a good thing, there’s also a downside.

It’s a time when tornadoes come out to play, wreaking their havoc, destroying property and, in some cases, lives.

*Photo credit at the end.

Last Sunday night, tornado weather came knocking at our door.

Dangerously Close

We were monitoring the weather throughout the evening. According to the forecasters, the supercell heading our direction was, by all initial appearances, weak. Even the weatherman didn’t seem impressed. In fact, he spent more time on the storms heading north and south of us.

We almost stopped watching the weather, thinking everything was fine.

**Photo credit at the end.

The storm cluster heading our direction suddenly exploded into a big tornado. It briefly touched down seven miles from where we live.

Storm chasers shared pictures of the funnel cloud on social media.

Several minutes later, the warnings for our area started to come in, a siren went off, and my phone app announced, “Warning. Tornado is in your area. Seek shelter.”

Uh oh.

The sky turned pitch black dark, and the wind picked up considerably.

We headed to our shelter and hunkered down on the floor.

Huge hailstones (up to softball size) pummeled our house, sounding like dropping bombs with each strike.

Then I heard what sounded like glass smashing.

It went on and on.

Hail continued crashing on top of our house as part of the funnel cloud roared above us.

All Clear

We are praising God today that the other families in our neighborhood and we are all safe.

Our roof took a beating, and there’s damage to our outside lighting, but those things are repairable.

Thank you, God, for keeping us safe.

Like that powerful storm, awful circumstances can quickly explode in our lives. An emotional bomb drops, and it can instantly undermine our peace.

This Bible verse is taped to the wall of our storm shelter. It reads:

^***20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. – Matthew 28:20, KJV.

He is always with us. That is our assurance.

Nonbelievers don’t understand it, but as Christians, we can hold the words of Scripture in our hearts when the “storms” come in our lives.

There is no better peace than the peace that He can give.

Don’t know where to start with scripture memorization?

Here’s one suggestion, with verses specifically about fear.

http://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/fear-bible-verses/

I hope that is helpful.

God bless you this week!

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*Photo courtesy of Sarah. Shared with permission.
**Photo courtesy of Jessica. Shared with permission.
***Bible Reference: King James Version, (KJV) Public Domain.
****Corrie Ten Boom quotation, as quoted from Christian quotes.info