Tornado Warnings

We have three sons, three daughters-in-law, and eleven grandchildren living in or near Murray, Kentucky. “Near” means within a couple of miles. I have several cousins and numerous friends, former colleagues, and students, who live there as well. We were already concerned on Tuesday when the National Weather Service and several other meteorology sources issued severe weather watches for a huge swatch across Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, and adjoining areas. Those forecasts included an unusual level of probability for tornadoes. Yesterday evening, the watches turned into warnings. And then got worse.

Our concern vaulted right across the bar into genuine worry after seeing numerous reports of a tornado on the ground and headed toward downtown Murray. Two of those sons live within several blocks of downtown.

Via my smartphone, I could see weather radar in almost real time and it didn’t look good. The various reports posted on Facebook didn’t lower my anxiety in the slightest. It was a tense few minutes between my phone messages and responses from Jeremiah and Ben. I was able to talk to Daniel and was relieved to find out he and his family and his mom were all okay. Like I told them, “My Papa Meter redlined when I saw those ‘tornado on the ground’ reports!”

“We heard it go by and could hear the low pressure trying to pull the doors open. That was a little freaky, but, no, we’re all good.” He also told me that Ben’s family were over at Jeremiah’s and they were all in the basement. That brought some relief but it wasn’t until I got text messages back from Ben and Jeremiah that I really felt at ease.

So far as I know, there were no casualties in or around Murray. Cousins all okay. I checked on a high school buddy and my Ag teacher to be sure they are okay, too. Cousin John Bray posted a screenshot from a meteorologist, Noah Bergren, who had this to say: “When I say God answered someone’s prayer, I mean it. That was probably an EF2 going right at MSU [Murray State University] and lifted less than a mile before being a historic event in Murray city history.”

Trust me, folks, you don’t want to be part of a “historic event” during a tornado outbreak! There were lots of people’s prayers answered last night.

My theology cannot to my own satisfaction explain why some are spared when others aren’t. Just the harsh nature of this world so far as I can tell. But that does not keep me from expressing genuine gratitude to the God of the Flower and the Storm for what did not happen last night in Murray, Kentucky. And for all those who rejoiced with me.

Even if William Munny (Unforgiven) was right that “’Deserve’s’ got nothing to do with it.” Yeah, I can live with that.