We interrupt Virginia’s regularly scheduled blogging with a STORM WARNING:

Duck, hide, run for shelter… a storm is on the way (actually, it’s here!)

This afternoon while munching lunch, minding my own business (occasionally jotting notes for today’s other blog) my iPhone started buzzing with bizerky sounds.  At first I thought it was an Amber Alert. When my sister-in-law Lynn visited a few weeks ago, both our phones buzzed with an Amber Alert after a child disappeared in Charlottesville.  We stopped what we were doing and prayed for the child, family, abductors… our sick world!

But today for the first time my phone went crazy with a Tornado Warning: Seek shelter. Get off the road.  Go down to your basement. Stay away from windows. 

We’ve been under a Tornado Watch all day, but a WARNING means serious business: the hypothetical tornado is OTW (on the way.)

My brother texted from the library that all his colleagues gathered in a hallway. (The James City County Library is beautiful with lots of natural light, from lots of windows!)

I went into the bathroom (with no basement, the most fortified room in our home) taking along my iPhone and iPad to track what was happening. And, yes, I definitely started praying (fervently!)

25 minutes later when the warning lifted, I peered out the window to see our street was still there and everything looked okay. My neighbor Laurin called to check on things, then we both went back to what we were doing.

In those few minutes, however, the tornado did touch down with destructive force, decimating Waverly, a small farming town about an hour from us.

Three people died.

My heart and prayers go out to their families and their community, along with those killed in Louisiana yesterday from the same storm system.

The wind is still whooshing and branches keep clattering on our roof. (We’re still under a Tornado Watch ’til 9:00pm.) So grateful for a sturdy home in the midst of the storm.  We have weathered many hurricanes. (Our roof had to be replaced after Irene crashed a tree through it, also destroying my car at the same time.)  But tornadoes? Not so much.

Kinda scary! Such destructive force…

A Lenten application to all this?  Sometimes the storms of life swirl around us with hurricane force winds. Occasionally we may tangle with a tornado that hits our hearts and lives with destructive power.  We need to immediately seek shelter in the Everlasting Arms of God. Maybe the storm will pass, maybe it will hit us full on – but from the shelter of God’s Arms encircling us with unending love, we can face what comes.  One grace-filled moment at a time…

“Have you heard the saying, ‘Don’t tell God how big your storm is, tell the storm how big your God is?’  The Lord, Who is bigger than anything you face, will give you the courage and endurance to deal with your challenges and preach the Gospel.”   Pope Francis

grace, peace & storm warnings

Virginia : /

p.s. hope those swaying, bending trees will not sway this way onto our home!