Living in Tornado Alley

This week I experienced my first tornado!! I know that I should be prepared for this, seeing that everyone knows they happen here in Oklahoma. But, it's a little more scary when it's your house that's on the line. The weather guys kept saying how unusual storms like this were in February, they usually come in April and May. So when the sirens went off at work and we all had to go to the basement, I started wondering... turns out there wasn't a threat on the downtown area so we came back to work, but people were talking about super-cells over Edmond so I started watching the live news coverage at my desk.

Almost as soon as I tuned in they started saying a tornado was on the ground in north west Edmond. Well that's where my house is, and without any more detail than that I was freaked out!! To make matters worse, they had some guy in a helicopter (can you imagine having that job??) who was following the tornado to video it. It was unreal to think that was happening live as I watched it. Power flashes and debris going everywhere!! I have only ever seen things like that on the Discovery channel Storm Chasers show!!

Turns out my house was fine, we were a little less than 2 miles from the path of the tornado. A lot of people weren't that lucky though, and it took out houses of all types. Everything from a trailer park to a subdivision that's full of $1,000,000 homes was damaged. It's an amazing thing to see the damage, because since the path of this tornado was only about 100 yards across, one house can be gone completely and the next door neighbor can be missing only a handful of shingles.

I guess this means I have been officially inducted into the lifestyle of an Oklahoman!! It makes me think about how powerful God is, and to be thankful everyday for all we have been blessed with. Worldly possessions can be replaced with insurance checks, but lives and love ones can't. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those who were affected...

Here is the link to the video I was talking about, if you're interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW5046SlHJM