Tornado Season

When driving down the road, on a clear sunny day, my windshield was suddenly covered with mist which blobbed and streaked in the dust. Rain from a clear sky? no. Sprinklers watering the median? no. It was Overspray from the windshield washer on the Mercedes C230 in front of me. You know those things can be adjusted so they don't spray everyone else on the road.

That got me to thinking. Sometimes our overspray gets on people too doesn't it? Even when we don't mean for it to. Like when someone has 'one too many' and kills a young mother and daughter with his car. "He didn't mean to" may be true, but it doesn't bring anyone back to life does it? Actually, just like ripples that cover an entire pond when you toss in a pebble, the "overspray" from a maladjusted life gets on lots of people, often people we don't even know. For example: [Names and details have been changed to protect those identified in this story]
Several years ago I got a frantic phone call from a man whose wife, we'll call her Donna, had just been arrested for embezzling $150,000 from the company she was an accountant for. This wife and mother of three had cooked up the idea of taking the money and fleeing to the Caribbean with her son's baseball coach. Now she was sitting in jail, refusing to talk to her husband or anyone from the family or church. He was in shock and the children were devastated. This family had been friends of mine for many years and he believed that she would talk with me. Would I come? Of course. I asked my wife to throw a few clothes in a suitcase for me while I called the airlines and bought a plane ticket. I headed out to the airport, and arrived just in time to board the plane for my five hour flight. [pause]

Are you getting the picture here that this was a serious crisis, brought on by the bad choices of primarily one person? Do you see how her actions did not just affect her, but they also directly injured her husband, and their three children? Not to mention her fellow employees, her company, the reputation of her congregation, her parents, her friends, and now, dare I say it, even me? ahhh, but we are not yet done with the story.... [resume]
About 30 minutes after my plane takes off, my wife and children, who are home on a Stormy North Texas evening, hear an unusual noise. Almost a whistle, faint in the distance, hard to really make it out in the rain, then, suddenly the wind and rain stop, and in the almost echoing silence, the sound is perfectly clear...it is the tornado siren...warning to take cover immediately, there is a tornado...somewhere...coming here...quick, turn on the TV...channel 8...

A tornado has been confirmed, I repeat, a tornado has been confirmed, if you are in the path of this storm, take shelter immediately. If you do not have a storm shelter, move to an interior room of your...zzzt...zzzzttt...blackness...who turned off the TV?...and who turned off the lights?...and who turned off...oh, the power has gone off!...kids begin to cry, the only light now is from the almost constant strobe of lightening...

do you know that feeling? When the air is heavy with apprehension? When the prickles stand up tall on your forearm? When you just know that things aren't right, but you also know there is nothing you can do about it, and you're pretty sure it's gonna get worse before it gets better? That moment when your first thought is of that someone you think you can always turn to because you know you can count on them in times of trouble? This was that moment. Think frightened wife realizing that she, and she alone, is responsible for the safety of her children, right now...what to do? no storm shelter, no lights, no panic room, no news, "QUICK, COME WITH ME, GET YOUR SISTER..." think terrified kids hiding under the stairs, I wish daddy was here...think sound of a freight train coming through the front yard, "mommie, where is daddy?"
Well, actually, daddy was on an airplane, with his cell phone on "airplane mode", out of reach, out of touch, and totally unavailable to those in crisis at home. If you stop and noticed you'll see that what we're talking about is merely another layer of ripples from the impact of Donna's sinful 'pebble tossing'? My children were hiding under the stairs, terrified of a tornado, when the one person they counted on most to provide stability, confidence, and calm in a crisis was simply not there. Why? Because Donna decided to embezzle $150,000, that's why. Now, as I said before, Donna was my friend, and had been for years. I had stayed in their home many times. She wouldn't hurt or frighten my children for anything in the world...but she did. Her windshield overspray, cloudied the windshields of my children for that oh so brief, but intense few minutes.
The good things we do impact others, right? [Thankfully] And likewise the evil we do impacts others also. Don't believe, and for goodness sake don't ever give, excuses like "we are two consenting adults, what we do is our business, it doesn't hurt anyone else", [because it does] or "it's my life/body, I can do what I want with it, what I do doesn't affect you", [because it does] or "As long as they don't bother me", or "you leave me alone and I'll leave you alone". You see, I am made just a little bit better when those around me, feed the hungry, stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves, speak up boldly for God's truth, take responsibility for themselves and their families. And I am made just a little bit the worse for wear when my president lies, or my child cheats on a test, or my church trades truth for full pews.
What you do affects others, likely even people you don't know, and likely people you will never meet. Your life, like ripples in a pond, will affect many who will live years from now, maybe long after your death. Use your time, and your life, wisely. Leave a Godly Heritage for those who follow. Blaze a noble path, so those who come after will see more clearly to seek after righteousness.

May all your ripples move people in the right direction, and for goodness sake, don't embezzle from your company... it's tornado season.