Those living in Texas know of the power of the thunderstorm. By the time a young texan reaches age 10 or 11 he or she has seen enough inclement weather to have a healthy respect (or fear of) for the "Severe Thunderstorm Warning." On May 8th, 1981, Grand Prairie, Texas, received such a warning and my family waited for the arrival of heavy wind and rain. When severe warnings were extended to our area, we hoped to only receive strong winds and heavy rains. But on this night we were to receive much more than high winds, heavy rain and thunder.
Severe thunderstorms are an ominous creation, especially when they creep into your life after the sun goes down. In the minutes before a severe storm, the air grows completely still, ushering in an eerie, uneasy feeling which seems to cast a dark "shadow" over everything. When this "shadow" happens at night there is an added dose of anxiety for the children waiting in the path of these storms. On this night my brothers, sister and I were just a hair shy of terrorized as we considered what soon approached.
Some of you living in the Dallas area certainly remember the meteorologist from KXAS, Harold Taft. He was a kind, grandfatherly figure for kids and adults alike when the big storms hit the Dallas area. We knew we could depend upon Mr. Taft to guide and reassure us when the clouds turned black. On this particular night the words of our favorite meteorologist were less than assuring. Harold broke into our favorite shows and told of a ferocious storm which would soon be upon us. We were told to take cover and be ready for much more than the hoped for strong wind and heavy rain. Hail and tornadoes were on the way and everyone needed to seek shelter and safety fast!
As the storm began to "blow in" the wind became fierce and the rain poured. My family went to my mother and father's bedroom to "weather" the storm together. We were scared of what we were enduring and fearful of what might soon come. Then it happened...Hail!
If you have never lived through a hailstorm in Texas let me assure you they can be quite a show. If a hailstorm approaches in the daylight hours, the sky will actually turn green before the icy stones are upon you. Unfortunately, at night there is no such warning and the first indication that we were experiencing a hailstorm was the moment we heard those large, baseball size balls of ice impacting our nice, wood shingle roof!
Baseball size hail on a wood shingle roof is so loud you can hardly hear yourself think much less talk. We all looked at one another in stunned silence as we prayed, held each other and hoped for a quick end to the beating over our heads. But soon the drumbeat on our roof was joined by the "cymbals" of glass breaking as the windows of our house became victims of the huge ice hurling through the sky. It was at that moment my siblings and I were sure the end was near; how can anyone survive such mayhem? In the mind of an eleven year old the sound of hailstones on a wood shingle roof represent just about everything he or she knows of Armageddon. The End was near!
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the hail stopped and our brush with death passed. Relief flooded over us and we felt as though we had been delivered from the gallows. But the damage had been done. Over the course of the next twelve hours our neighborhood (and town) awoke to almost complete destruction. The only thing which might have done more damage to our area would have been an actual tornado - every car was totaled , every roof destroyed, all windows blown out. My little corner of the earth had experienced, yet survived, what came to be known as "The Great Hailstorm." In fact, some marketing genius even had t-shirts printed with the picture of a house under a shower of hail and the words, "I Survived the Great Hailstorm -- May 8th, 1981."
I suppose many of the storms we experience in life have the same kind of timeline as my "Great Hailstorm of 1981." We see the approaching danger, fear the ominous nature of the unknown, seek the counsel of those who might reassure or help us prepare for what is to come, experience the fierceness of the storm as it rages in our life, feel the relief after the storm passes and tell the story of our great survival after the storm has passed. Of course there are times when the storm seems to overwhelm us. In fact, there are times when there is no story of survival on this side of Heaven. But for the believer, a story of victory and survival will always be told. On earth or in Heaven we will always testify of God's great faithfulness in the midst of the storms of life. God is good! God is always faithful to give us a victorious story to tell for His glory.
James
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