This morning I was greeted by a text from family, asking for prayer.  There were scores of tornadoes in south Louisiana and very high winds and flooding. My niece, at work in her office at LSU, was asked to go to the basement for safety.  Not long after that, classes were cancelled at the university. My parents were on the road, traveling across Lake Ponchartrain on the Twin Span (6 miles long, over open water).  Here is the radar from this time.

Our backyard in Arizona looked like this:

How surreal.  Birds singing and cool breezes dancing in my backyard, while my family seeks shelter in a basement, races a violent storm down the interstate, or sits in a darkened home, listening to howling wind and rain. I am thankful for big kids to pray with, when life is scary. This visual poem has come to my mind so many times over the past week.  I thought of it again today.

The truth is that He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:17).

Whether you are far from family or they are right next door, it can be hard to see them in danger.  We often forget that our lives are held together by the Lord.  In dark times and on sunny days, we are in the same situation, even if we don’t realize it. Thanks be to Jesus Christ, that nothing surprises Him because He holds all things together, even us.