Boy, have we heard a lot about the end of the world lately haven’t we? One of my dear friends at church weighed in on the old guy’s prediction who said everything would end this weekend when he posted on Facebook, “Cheer up! It’s not like it’s the end of the world or something!” 🙂 I laughed my head off! I mean I just hee-hawed! But, tonight about an hour ago, for about 15 minutes I wondered. Why?
This is what was headed our way…

Ominous...pretty scary looking...view of a mountain called "Rendezvous" just above the house
Amazing! We were watching our local weather on WXII and Lanie Pope and Michelle Kennedy said, “There is a tornado warning for Wilkes County and there is a doppler indicated tornado moving from Maple Springs and headed to Parsonsville and Millers Creek.” Well, dear friends, in between Parsonsville and Millers Creek, is none other than Purlear, which is where WE LIVE!!
I turned off the TV and hollered for the family. I was calm, but Katy and Kandace could tell in the tone of my voice that something was up. They said, “Dad is this the real thing?” I said, “I don’t know girls, but I know this…we’re taking no chances…we’re headed to the basement.” I told them to grab anything from their room they wanted and do it in three minutes. Katy got her viola. I got my Bible, computer, and cell phone (all three were together on the kitchen bar) and three flash lights and a battery operated radio from a drawer in our bedroom. And like little ducklings headed across the road in a line…down the steps we went. I promise you it was in about 30 seconds, instead of 3 minutes. The wind was howling! I mean howling!! The house was popping and cracking and it was DARK! I took one last look toward the west and thought, “This might be the real thing.”
On my way down the stairs, I got on my cell and called my mom and dad and my sister and her family and said, “Are you in the basement?” Dad said, “I think we’d better go don’t you?” I said, “YES, now Pop!” When I spoke to my sister, she said, “Ok, where are you?” I said, “In the basement.” She said, “OK, WE’RE GOING NOW!” At that moment I was afraid. I was afraid for what could happen to my family. Just 30 minutes earlier I was watching the evening news and saw this picture in Joplin, MO.

I knew that the gentlemen claiming the world would end this weekend was a quack, but this was serious. I pulled up the radar on my computer and we were in the middle of red, purple and magenta on the screen. I didn’t see a hook, (like a comma, which is a sign for a tornado), so that was good. I also started hearing hail. Out of the basement window I could see marble size hail. That’s also a good sign. Rarely do you have a tornado with hail. The hail robs the clouds of energy to produce the wall cloud that produces the funnel. So, I started feeling better. I did pray during this, but there was little time for concerted prayer. In these cases, you are simply grateful knowing the Lord is in control and whatever happens must be ordained by him.
After about 15 minutes, I could tell the wind and noise of the hail was dying down. I came upstairs and took this picture…

Wow!
Now you tell me that’s not the Lord! At that moment, I thought, “Lord, you are truly in control of all of life.” I thought of the apostles on the Sea of Galilee with Jesus in the midst of the storm and Him commanding the wind and waves “Peace! Be still!”
It’s ok! That’s the thought that hit me. With Jesus, everything is ok, no matter what is happening in our lives. Are dark clouds building in your life? Fear may come, but perfect loves drives out fear. So, you and I can take heart! Jesus is in control and so we can even say, “Cheer up, even if it REALLY is the end of the world.” Because Jesus said, He’d be with us even “to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). And knowing that feels real good, when you think it might be.
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