Last night we were under a tornado warning, not a watch, a warning as the storm came closing in on us. As the sirens blared, I was thankful to be downstairs in the cement walled basement of our house of worship as we were attending midweek classes. As I stayed up late tracking the storm, I found myself thinking how we desperately need a storm shelter in the future as a part of our home. Well...where do we turn to in our lives for shelter? Often people turn to the wrong things, and end up making things worse. I think about David, who despite the chaos around him, always found peace and refuge in the Lord our God.
#SetYourMindAbovePodcast
Last night we were under a tornado warning, not a watch, a warning as the storm came closing in on us. As the sirens blared, I was thankful to be downstairs in the cement walled basement of our house of worship as we were attending midweek classes. As I stayed up late tracking the storm, I found myself thinking how we desperately need a storm shelter in the future as a part of our home. Well...where do we turn to in our lives for shelter? Often people turn to the wrong things, and end up making things worse. I think about David, who despite the chaos around him, always found peace and refuge in the Lord our God.
#SetYourMindAbovePodcast
Welcome back to all of our listeners! I’m BJ Sipe, and you’re listening to the Set Your Mind Above podcast – where everyday ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today, I am excited to share my life and my faith with you, and I sure hope that you’ll do the same with me along the way.
I wanted to share the events of last night that took place here in Danville, Kentucky with you today. Per usual, on Wednesday evenings at 7 pm we have midweek Bible studies together as a church family. Kylie and I got the kids ready and started making our way over to the building when it started to rain. It wasn’t all that serious yet, but as we looked out towards our right the intensity & darkness of the clouds was slightly unsettling. There was no doubt that a large storm was coming through and going to hit us right in the middle of Bible study. We got there safely and made our way downstairs to get the kids into their classes before joining our own. As we sat down, suddenly phones started to go off everywhere with the warning bells – I looked down at my phone and expected to see a flood watch, but that is not what we all saw. In big bold letters across my screen read, “TORNADO WARNING: TAKE COVER”. Since we had lived here, we had only ever been under tornado watches, in which the circumstances meant it was possible for a tornado to touch down. A tornado warning means that one has formed and is in our immediate area. Before I had finished processing what was even taking place, the tornado sirens of Danville started to sound outside of the building. As the sirens blared, the next sound we were met with was the rumbling of dozens of feet as everyone from the upstairs auditorium made their way down into the basement to take cover. Growing up in Oregon, I never once dealt with even so much as a tornado warning in my lifetime. In the Pacific Northwest the things we have to worry about are wildfires and flooding, but almost never tornados. So to hear the sirens and see everyone taking cover was very unsettling for me. I grabbed Kylie’s hand and thought to myself, “I’m sure glad we are where we are right now.” You see, the building here in Danville where we worship and study was built in the 1950s. While the upstairs area as you walk in contains our foyer and auditorium, all of our classes are downstairs in the basement. The basement is not just any basement though – all of its walls are made of solid concrete. While that makes getting internet or cell reception downstairs a huge pain, it is probably one of the safest places we could be in the event of a Tornado aside from an underground storm shelter. We continued on with class for a little while before one of the elders poked their head in and said that we were going to go ahead and dismiss early for evening so everyone could get home and to safety before the next wave came through as more severe weather was ahead in the forecast. As we dismissed Kylie looked at me and asked, “What do you want to do?” I knew exactly what she meant. Our home, while wonderfully built of solid brick, new & beautiful, does not have a basement or storm shelter at all. We have a crawl space under our house, which is not a safe place to be in the event that a tornado does touch down over top. We talked about bringing air mattresses back over there to the building and having a sleepover in my office, which actually sounded kind of fun. As we discussed it, we had multiple members come up and check to see if we wanted to come stay with them since they had full basements & extra space – which was so thoughtful and kind. I love our church family and how we care for each other. We decided to go ahead and go home and keep the emergency weather radio on and close. I stayed up until about 2 am to watch and listen, and if things looked like they were about to get bad again, we had somewhere we could be in 5 minutes. Thankfully there were no more warnings through the night, and everyone slept safe and sound…well, almost everyone. I think I’ll hit the sack a little bit early tonight to get caught up on my rest.
As I laid in bed watching the radar, my mind went to the words of David in Psalm 27:1-10. It reads like this, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.” David is one of those Biblical characters that I am drawn the most to for so many reasons. One of the things about David that has always command my attention was his ability to find peace & harmony from God despite the chaos and disarray that was his life. The words that David writes in this Psalm are not metaphorical in nature, he legitimately had enemies encamped around him waiting to take his life from him. It was not only enemies such as the Philistines he would fight against at times, but it was even his own King and father in law who spent years hunting him. Physical harm was not all that David would face though in his life – he would be feel alone, go hungry, be betrayed, experience loss, and feel the bitter consequences sometimes of his own actions. What did David turn to in these moments? When all others, even his own family, would desert him? In every instance, David sought shelter in the Lord. God was his refuge, the one who gave him peace and security through every single danger & discouragement. It did not matter the size of the storm, because the Lord had taken him in. I look at David’s life and sometimes I feel ashamed. How many times have I allowed myself to become distraught and feel hopeless over things far less intense or serious than the things that David experienced? How many times have I turned to the wrong things to find peace and security in the middle of the storm? Look at the things that people rush to in order to find peace when chaos swarms our lives: escaping through addiction to drugs, alcohol, or pornography. Denying the reality around us by believing lies. Burying ourselves in work, entertainment, or impulse purchases. You see, all the places people turn to for shelter end up making things even worse – it’s like taking shelter from a tornado in an open field. The only one that can bring us peace, and the only place we can truly find shelter in our lives is through the presence of God. Find rest in him. Seek him, and he will take you in.
Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Fridays, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and video sessions. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.