[dropcap2 variation=”coffee”]M[/dropcap2]onday afternoon, I climbed onto the elliptical at the gym not knowing I would spend the next hour transfixed, watching live coverage of a massive tornado ripping through Moore, Oklahoma. Having survived a strikingly similar tornado in 1979 in Wichita Falls, Texas, I knew what was happening on the ground.
Lives lost. Homes destroyed. Traumatic images invading minds. The trajectory of every heart changed.
The stories are beginning to unfold. Tears and heartache. Deep anxiety over missing loved ones. Heroism and sacrifice. Love and service.
All from an unpredictable funnel cloud descending from the sky.
We may not live in Tornado Alley, but we’ve been through our own dangerous storms. And we’ll face more.
Tornadoes come. We can’t stop them. But there are three things we can do:
- We can prepare.
- When the time comes, we can act.
- Afterwards, we can help each other pick up the pieces.
First, we prepare by living wisely now. Do the important things today. Say what we need to say to whom we need to say it. Invest deeply in our hearts, so that we can invest deeply in people.
Second, when the time comes, we act by riding out the storm. We look to the Storm-Calmer, the one who slept in the back of the boat in the midst of the chaos. He is Peace-in-the-twister. Because we have invested in our hearts and our relationships, we can move through the storm with more faith and less fear.
Third, we pick each other up afterwards. Some will be more wounded than others. We meet others where they are, and help them heal. We show up, listen, accept, and love.
And together we come back stronger than before.
We will live with courage. The tornadoes will not win.
