Advent 2025
The Tornado

As a boy I had a fascination with storms, more specifically tornados.  After having watched the Wizard of Oz I developed an unhealthy fear of the treacherous windstorms. I remember checking out books from the library about tornados, funnel clouds, wall clouds and the like.  I would spend hours reading…the captions and looking at pictures about the immeasurable power of destruction that these violent inverted cones were capable of.  I remember the paradox of always wanting to see a tornado in person and yet never wanting to encounter the dangerous cloud and endure the life changing devastation that would ensue. 

The closest I ever came to seeing a tornado in person was at the end of a hot July summer day between third and fourth grade.  The air was thick and humid and I remember sitting directly in front of a box fan trying desperately to stay cool in the non climate controlled farm house.  The Minnesota Twins were on the TV and I was manipulating my Rubiks Connector Snake, when the television started beeping and text began scrolling across the bottom of the screen.  It started as, “A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for the following counties…Hubbard, Todd, Wadena…etc.”  It didn’t take long until the watch turned into a warning…including a tornado watch and even some tornado warnings in our area.  My stomach churned as I remembered the graphic images of tornados from my research. 

My anxiety peaked when my dad came into the house and said, “Get in the basement!”

With great fear and trepidation, I resisted running upstairs to my room to grab my most prized possession…my He-Man action figure. (Despite what my grandmother called it, he was an action figure…not a doll!). Instead, I settled for the only toy I could reach in time, my Rubiks Connector Snake, figuring that I would never see any of my beloved playthings again. 

Despite my dad’s firm warning, he alone remained upstairs looking at the churning sky while my mother took the four of us kids downstairs.  I think my mother could sense the tension that I was feeling.  At one point she placed her arm around me and pulled me in and said, “Hey, it’s going to be ok.”

I don’t exactly know why…but I believed her. She had no power over nature or the wind or the future of my toys, but I still believed her.  In fact, I remember in that moment that even if my stuff was going to be carried away by the wind to the hands of my nemesis neighbor Glen, it was going to be ok. 

My hope made a shift in that moment.  It went from a questioning of the uncertainty of my possessions to a confidence in a promised but unseen future.  One way or another, it was going to be ok. 

We all want to know that it is going to be ok. We want to be secure.  Too often I think we attempt to find hope in our own security.  I don’t think that is the Biblical hope that Jesus provides. 

The hope of Jesus…Biblical Hope, I think is finding our security in Him, when He tells us that if we will put our trust in Him…it will all be ok. 

I think I believe Him.  Do you?

May you find Hope in Jesus this Christmas as you learn to put your trust in Him.

 

 

 I am 5 years old!

 

I remember coming home after my first year of college only to have my dad “joke” about charging rent. 

“Welcome home son! I’ve been thinking about what a fair rent could be for this summer.”

“Hah Dad! That’s funny, I live here…this is my home, you should just be glad that you get to be with me all summer long! Why would you even consider rent?”

“I don’t remember seeing your name on the deed?”

“Hah! Whatever! Can I use the car this Friday?”

“I am thinking that maybe $150 a month would suffice.”

“Dad! Give it a rest! You’re NOT funny!  Do we have anything to eat?”

“What makes you think that I am joking?”

“I put my laundry down stairs.  Can you let Mom know? I’m going to need it by tomorrow night; I’m planning on getting together with some friends to hang out.”

“If you are not going to pay rent, you WILL be working for your lodging.”

“Ugh! Dad! I am 19 years old now and I should be able to make my own decisions and do what I want!”

“It’s either rent or work.  How about you decide that?”

“FINE! This is SO unfair!”

As a 19 year old, I may or may not have had a disconnect between my ears.  Now 30 years later, I KNOW that I had a disconnect between my ears…and in reality…I still do.  I am just one of the guilty parties that make up a society that is dependently independent. 

As humans we scream for independence until our independence leaves us wanting or in need and then we suddenly shift back towards dependency.  It is like the college student who wants to make their own decision…and still rely on the comforts and safety of home.

Many years ago my wife was substitute teaching for a kindergarten class in Little Falls.  Of course, the day included a trip to the zoo.  I think many kindergarten teachers find themselves conveniently “sick” on the days of the local zoo field trip.  My wife spent the day wrangling and herding the kindergarteners here and there, giving instructions and commands to keep them in line as well as out of the animal pens.  At one point one little girl was refusing to obey. 

“Alice, you need to get down from that fence. That is not a safe place for you to be.”

Alice did not move.

“Alice, you NEED to get down.”

Alice did not move.

“Alice, you NEED to get down NOW!”

Alice responded…”I AM 5 YEARS OLD! I DO NOT NEED ANYONE TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!”

We know that at 5 years old Alice DOES need to be told what to do.  She IS dependent upon the authorities in her life.  Yet, like Alice we too may struggle with submitting to authorities in our lives.  Matthew 28:18-20 reveals who the REAL authority is.  It is Jesus.  Jesus as the ultimate authority is giving us some instruction.  I have given a great deal of thought to what Jesus wants…us to do…I have concluded…I think he wants us to do what he says.

May we come to both hear and do, what Jesus says.