I was born during a tropical storm. In 1992, Tropical Storm Danielle hit coastal Virginia, and at 5:15 p.m. that Friday in late September, I was born at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital.
My parents tell stories of how they both were racing to the hospital when my birth mom went into labor. I was adopted right at birth and my parents were eager to be there right when it happened. Their plan to get the hospital didn't involve navigating a tropical storm that was brewing. We all know a thing or two about changed plans…
Living in Tennessee from age 2 to 24, I didn't really understand hurricane season until my spouse and I moved to Richmond. Spending his entire childhood in Newport News, Marcus has countless stories of hurricane parties, fallen trees, and their dock washing away into the James River. The two stories I had were 1) new friends who moved to Tennessee from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and 2) Tropical Storm Danielle.
Do you have a hurricane story?
Can you remember a time when a storm has derailed your plans?
Now I have stories of packing a "things you may need while stuck in the basement" bag, wearing headlamps when the power goes out, and filling up all of our water bottles just in case we need them. I also have plenty of stories of metaphorical storms and hurricanes that either pop up out of nowhere or ones that I've heard rumbling in from the distance.
Can you think of a metaphorical storm that has affected your plans?
We're in summer storm and hurricane season now. Whether it's the spontaneous ten-minute shower, the microburst that knocks out the power lines, or the waters that flood in and destroy everything in their path, this is storm season.
Growing up in Tennessee, we told stories of how thunder was God bowling up in heaven and lightning was God taking pictures. Insurance companies claim some property damage to be "acts of God" after large storms
(like when a brick fell on top of my car the night of our rehearsal dinner- a story for another time).
Many see a strong connection between the weather and the power of God.
Do you think there is a connection between God and the weather?
Do you think human decisions impact the weather? Why or why not?
Tropical Storm Isaias (ees-ah-EE-ahs) has been hovering around the United States this weekend** and will continue to affect pieces of the east coast throughout this week.
We are experiencing several seasons right now. It's honestly been storm season since March for many of us. Hurricane season now overlaps with the frustrating and unbearable COVID-19 season-the storm that made landfall here in the United States earlier this year. The storm that keeps hovering over and around us.
Where do you see God in these seasons?
What are your prayers for this week?
I invite you to think of seasons this week. The author of
Ecclesiastes
tells us "for everything there is a season;" however, some seasons feel unnecessary, hurtful, and unbearable.
Where do you see God in today's seasons?
It didn’t behave
like anything you had
ever imagined. The wind
tore at the trees, the rain
fell for days slant and hard.
The back of the hand
to everything. I watched
the trees bow and their leaves fall
and crawl back into the earth.
As though, that was that.
This was one hurricane
I lived through, the other one
was of a different sort, and
lasted longer. Then
I felt my own leaves giving up and
falling.
The back of the hand to
everything.
But listen now to what happened
to the actual trees;
toward the end of that summer they
pushed new leaves from their stubbed limbs.
It was the wrong season, yes,
but they couldn’t stop. They
looked like telephone poles and didn’t
care. And after the leaves came
blossoms.
For some things
there are no wrong seasons.
Which is what I dream of for me.
Amen
.
**As of Sunday evening
