Tornado Warning
It was after 10:30 p.m. on a Sunday night. I could hear the wind, thunder, and rain outside. The weather report had called for severe weather and possible tornadoes in my area during the night. In the back of my head, I wondered if I should get ready for a possible tornado evacuation. I shoved the thought aside. I was snuggled warmly in my bed. At 10:50 p.m., I heard my phone buzz, indicating a text message had arrived. I could barely keep my eyes open as I read a friend's response to a group message. I fell asleep shortly thereafter.
I was deep in sleep when I heard loud noises coming from my upstairs housemate. I groaned at the noise and thought, I hope she stops making noise so I can go back to sleep. Then I heard her running down the stairs and calling out to another housemate on my floor. "Get up. There's a tornado warning. We have to get to the basement." She knocked loudly on my door and called out to me with the same warning. I jumped out of bed and opened my bedroom door with my heart loudly beating in mild panic. She asked if I knew where to go. I shook my head "no." I saw two of the girls in my dorm were dressed with coats on. I closed my door and frantically looked for something appropriate to wear. I wasn't sure what I should take with me so I grabbed my cell phone, keys, and wallet. Again, the warning came to get to safety. I opened my bedroom door again and realized I had forgotten my coat. I went back to grab it, not sure which coat to grab.
The girls were already downstairs ready to exit the house and were waiting for me to show me the way to the basement. They opened their umbrellas and disappeared into the darkness of the night. Why didn't I grab an umbrella? I thought. I wondered if I should go back upstairs to grab an umbrella but I decided it was too late. Besides, it didn't look like it was raining that hard. The wind howled in the night sky as the rain pelted down upon us. From the doorway, it didn't appear it was raining that hard until we got into it. We had to run around to the side of the house to access the basement; there wasn't a way to access it from inside the house. A couple other girls from nearby cottages were already outside when we had exited our house but couldn't get into the basement without a key. Once inside the basement, I realized how wet I was and I shivered. One of the girls was missing. Someone was about to leave to go search for her but was warned not to go out into the storm, so she came back inside. Someone said we should pray. So we did. We prayed for the safety of everyone on campus and for the missing girl.
At 11:13 p.m., we got a group text from our President to move to the center of the house. All of us moved to the center of the basement. I purposely stayed away from the windows, thinking of past experiences with tornadoes and hurricanes. At 11:21 p.m., I sent a text to a relative, letting them know there was a tornado warning and I was in the basement. The weather center indicated the tornado warning would expire at 11:30 p.m. As the expiration time came and went, we waited anxiously for the "all clear" message from our President so we could go back to bed. Finally, at 11:46 p.m., we got the message that we could leave the basement.
In the morning, we learned that we had barely escaped the tornado's pathway. In the city next to us, which is about 10-15 minutes away, the tornado had destroyed homes and businesses. The pictures of the destruction were devastating. During our morning devotions, we praised God for sparing our humble institution and prayed for those affected by the destructive twister. There was no word yet of our sister university, which was 30 minutes away from us. Praise God that there were no students there due to the current global situation.
As I pondered about my readiness for a tornado warning, it reminded me of the parable of the 10 virgins, where 5 were wise and 5 were foolish. The foolish virgins weren't prepared to meet the bridegroom. They didn't prepare ahead of time of what they needed to take with them, just in case the bridegroom delayed his coming. The foolish virgins knew the bridegroom was coming and was even told of it. But still choose not to think ahead and prepare to bring all the necessary "equipment" with them.
It reminded me of how unprepared I was for the tornado warning. I knew ahead of time that there was a possibility of a tornado yet I did not prepare. I choose to ignore it. When the warning came, I had to rush around, delaying others, and didn't take valuable key items with me, like my citizenship papers.
How many of us are like the foolish virgins? How many of us are delaying to get to know Jesus and surround our lives over to Him, in every area of our lives? Do we hold certain areas of our lives from Him, thinking we know better? Perhaps, we think we'll have time to do it later, after we're had our own fun. Let us stop wasting time and fully surround to Christ Jesus today!
