As the warning sirens wailed, I shouted to my crew who were huddled in a concrete ditch near the cooling structure, “It is not safe here, we need to get into the containment bunker!” The wind was taking my words away, but everyone seemed to understand what I had said.
It was the third time in less than a month that there was a tornado in the area only this time it was traveling directly toward us. There was little time to make our way to safety. Above us the sky was swirling like an angry sea and the wind was already blowing small objects into the air. There was only one route to safety, and we needed to take it immediately.
My crew had been working on the outlying structures of the cooling system for the Marble Hill Nuclear Power Plant for the last three months. Normally it was good work. Not stuck in the middle of all the hectic construction that surrounded the containment and reactor building. But now it was those very structures that would offer our best hope of survival. To get there we would need to follow the labyrinth of causeways that made up the cooling structure. It would take five minutes or less if we moved quickly, kept our heads down and nothing had been blown into our path. We had little choice.
Moving as a group we stayed to the protected side of the six-foot-wide and six-foot-high canal that would lead to the steam release channel and eventually into containment. No one was speaking or if they were, I could not hear a thing over the now train-like sound of the wind above us. More debris was being tossed and thrown but so far nothing to block our path.
Within a few minutes we were in the steam release channel and I could see the entry to the containment structure. At that moment it sounded as if a bomb went off where we had just been a few moments before. There was a tremendous gust of wind then it felt like we all were being sucked back. Stuck against the wall of the SRT I was sure the tornado had touched down not far from us. There was nothing left to do but stay where we were and wait it out. I knew our safety was no longer in our hands.
Today do you feel safe. I guess that is a question each one of us ask ourselves probably more now than ever before. We look around us and see natural disasters, a disease that has frozen most of the world and questions if our financial wellbeing will ever be back within our own control again. I know that it has bred a new kind of fear that most of us alive today have not experienced.
It really does not matter how you view what is going on. Some believe that this is a conspiracy and maybe even a shift in the world order. Other see it in a more simplistic view. It is not the cause and effect that make the difference. It is more where you stand moving forward. You can view this all with a worldly mindset that will always lead to anger, fear and a feeling of loss. No longer safe to live the life we were so secure in just a few months ago. Or you can view this through the eyes of the One who sees the beginning from the end. When you look at this through God’s eyes there is no room for fear, there is only the safety of knowing He has a plan, an escape route, if you will. It might not be easy to see right now but it is there in His promises. You just need to believe.
Some of you might ask, “how do we see things through God’s eyes?” For me, the clearest answer is the Bible, which I truly believe is God’s Word. We do not have to search hard or long in that book to find promises that will guarantee that He has control and that our safety in times like these are secure. Here are a few just to give you a little hope this day:
Proverbs 2:7-10 “He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.”
Psalm 16:8-9 “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure.”
Genesis 28:15 “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Psalm 138:7-8 “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes; with your right hand you save me. The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands.”
Folks, our safety is guaranteed!
Years ago, a group of men huddled against the wall of a concrete canal as a tornado passed about 500 yards away. I am sure a few of those men were praying and claiming their safety in the Lord. I neither prayed nor believed. But today I know a safe place in this world where the winds of change and turmoil exist. I have a Savior that promised this: “…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) You do too, he offers you the safety of his love today!
Blessings
John
4/27/20
