I recently watched an American Experience documentary on PBS called “Mr. Tornado.” It chronicled the life and research of meteorologist Tetsuya “Ted” Fujita, dubbed “Mr. Tornado” because of his knowledge of and devotion to the study of tornadoes. He developed the F-scale that is currently used today to describe the severity of a tornado. He discovered the existence of downbursts and microbursts, which changed the way that weather was predicted and air travel was conducted, ultimately saving thousands of lives. His findings came about through his meticulous recording of the aftermaths of severe storms. What he saw at the end of these events told a story of what had happened before to cause such destruction.
To me this man’s story shows a picture to us as Christians of what we should be doing in our lives as Christ’s followers. We, much like Mr. Tornado, are called to assess the damage of sin in our lives and determine what can be done about it. We have seen homes wrecked, families broken, people injured or killed because of “tornadoes” of sin that have ripped through the lives of so many. But the more we understand sin in the world, the better we are able to prepare for it. Sin seeks to destroy us, but God seeks to lift us up. So when we see the path of sin’s destruction coming, we know to flee from it and seek shelter in the almighty arms of our Savior and Protector from sin, Jesus. Any “bursts” of sin that might come our way can be avoided by listening to our Lord and being on the lookout for any surprises from Satan, so that we can escape from them and not be alarmed by them.
Our close study of Scripture and our divine connection to Jesus help us to weather any storm that pops up and come out on the other side unscathed by sin because our Savior died for us. Our lives are in his hands, whichever way the wind blows.
