Anticipation: Tornado warnings and Advent
I am writing this post from the first floor hallway of my dormitory. The National Weather Service has issued 3 tornado warnings for our area in the past hour... and we aren't even halfway through the storm system that has pummeled much of Texas and Louisiana.
I get very anxious during inclement weather. I have never been directly affected by a tornado or hurricane, but I have seen first hand the terrible damage storms cause and the havoc they wreak on communities. My Dad always tells us to put on a sturdy pair of shoes, keep a flashlight on hand, and be on alert whenever bad weather is moving through the area. Well, I have on a solid pair of shoes, I have my flashlight next to my cell phone and homework, and I am keeping alert by looking at various radar and weather updates. My father the boy scout and my mother the geologist would be proud.
The one that's hardest to do is keep alert. There have been SOOOOO many false alarms with tornadoes and stuff while I've been at school, so this time I was actually blowing it off until my Dad and RA called us to get in a safe location immediately. Keeping alert is exhausting, and often it doesn't matter because it's a false alarm or a close call. I sometimes feel like Advent is just a false alarm. We "anticipate" the birth of the Christ child, but really we're just waiting till it's appropriate to sing Christmas hymns instead of Advent hymns. I think some of the surprise is taken out of Advent because we know how it ends... Jesus is born. But my prayer for Advent is that I want fall into the exhaustion, but that I'll actively search for how God is at work today in the world. The news is full of terrible stories, but I have to be the eternal optimist and think that for every bit of bad news there will be two good stories. To quote U2 front man Bono, "God is on the move," we just have to keep alert and we'll see it. Even better, God will revel God's self to us even when we aren't looking.
I get very anxious during inclement weather. I have never been directly affected by a tornado or hurricane, but I have seen first hand the terrible damage storms cause and the havoc they wreak on communities. My Dad always tells us to put on a sturdy pair of shoes, keep a flashlight on hand, and be on alert whenever bad weather is moving through the area. Well, I have on a solid pair of shoes, I have my flashlight next to my cell phone and homework, and I am keeping alert by looking at various radar and weather updates. My father the boy scout and my mother the geologist would be proud.
The one that's hardest to do is keep alert. There have been SOOOOO many false alarms with tornadoes and stuff while I've been at school, so this time I was actually blowing it off until my Dad and RA called us to get in a safe location immediately. Keeping alert is exhausting, and often it doesn't matter because it's a false alarm or a close call. I sometimes feel like Advent is just a false alarm. We "anticipate" the birth of the Christ child, but really we're just waiting till it's appropriate to sing Christmas hymns instead of Advent hymns. I think some of the surprise is taken out of Advent because we know how it ends... Jesus is born. But my prayer for Advent is that I want fall into the exhaustion, but that I'll actively search for how God is at work today in the world. The news is full of terrible stories, but I have to be the eternal optimist and think that for every bit of bad news there will be two good stories. To quote U2 front man Bono, "God is on the move," we just have to keep alert and we'll see it. Even better, God will revel God's self to us even when we aren't looking.
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