As some of you may know, I live in a rural area southwest of Kansas City. We were supposed to have really bad storms yesterday. Thank God, we didn't have any storms. Others in the area were hit by terrible tornadoes. Nebraska and Iowa were hard hit. There was a tornado in Southeastern Kansas that tracked over into Missouri.
Today, the area were I live is supposed to get hit with bad storms again. Please pray that these storms do not materialize. I don't want any storms, and I don't want anyone else to have any problems. Especially pray that we don't have flooding. Thank you for your prayers about these things. Pray for those that were harmed by the storms that they will get the aid that they need.
While I was watching to see where the storms were going to fire up yesterday, I got to thinking about all of the times my friend Toby and I had to watch and dodge the Kansas storms. We've certainly had more than our fair share of bad weather over the years.
I remember one year when they sounded the sirens for a tornado warning in my small town. The two of us went down into the little storm shelter my mom had installed. The folks were at work, so it was just me and Toby down there. For those that don't know, Toby was with me in my mid teens to my late twenties. The wind blew like I had never seen before. There was a lot of hail. One thing I could rely on is that Toby was never scarred of storms nor of thunder like many dogs. He would growl at the thunder as if a small dog could scare the thunder into submission.
Another time, the two of us got on local TV during a storm. We were outside when they put out a tornado warning out for a town a few miles away. It was supposed to be coming into our area, but there wasn't even a cloud in the sky. I went with Toby out into a field were we could get a better view of the area toward the town where there was the tornado. About that time, we could hear a helicopter that was from one of the Kansas City stations coming out to see the tornado cell.
Not too long after that, we saw what looked like a very small tornado in the distance. We made a quick run to the storm shelter.
I didn't know it until later in the day, but my friend said that the helicopter man showed us on TV down on the ground. He said I hope that man and dog know there is a storm coming. When we started running to the shelter, he said that we must have seen the tornado and were heading to safety.
The worst two storms that we were in, we couldn't get to a shelter. By the way, the old storm shelter at my house is no more, so if a storm comes God help me. Once, a storm came up in the middle of the night. My mom came in the room and told me to take Toby and get in the closet. It was hailing so much that we couldn't go to the shelter. The hail was terrible that night. It destroyed two of our window A/C units. All the corn crop in the area was destroyed, and we had to get a new roof on the house. Thank God that Toby was there during the storm to keep me from being scared.
The other bad storm happened while we were traveling in Colorado. I stopped with Toby at a motel for the night in Eastern Colorado. Toby and I went a lot of places together. They put out a tornado warning later in the evening. The clouds were actually rolling. I've never seen anything like it. Toby and I jumped into the bathtub and put a cover over us. There was no tornado touchdown nor even any rain, but about ten miles beyond where we where, there was a tornado.
I thank the Lord for my friend Toby. He helped me make it through storms and a lot of other really hard times. He helped me get over a bad depression. He helped me keep going through anxiety problems. He showed me what unconditional love is really all about. One thing I know. When he was with me, I was never afraid. He was tough and inspired great confidence. Sometime, I will tell you about how he keep our house protected when people tried to break in.
I am really missing my friend Toby right now. I am not doing well physically, and the depression that I've dealt with off and on since I was 15 years old is plaguing me again. I am hoping that we can be together again before too long. I am hoping and praying that all will be well the next few days.
Just on a side note, I've been watching some videos about two guys travelling in Wales. I always wished that Toby and I could have gone over there. When I watch the programs I think about the two of us walking on Snowdonia, visiting Beddgelert and Betws-y-Coed and seeing the Brecon Beacons and Tintern Abbey. Hopefully when we are together again, the Lord Jesus will let us see those places together in spirit.
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