Some people may call it a bad day... Me? I just have to laugh.

I am sorry all, but this blog post is rather lengthy. It is rather humorous though, if you care to read it. :)


In most peoples lives, the days events begin soon after waking up, but on this day, it began just after midnight.

We were driving home just after our latest storm chase. Radar announced heavy precipitation ahead. That night we had driven to Bassett, NE, about 40 miles from Valentine, NE. On the way back, the rain came down hard! Michael attempted to drape garbage bags over the broken window, but it wasn't working very well. Soon after, the left windshield wiper flew off into the wind. :) Consequently, Benjamin's visibility was drastically reduced. Thankfully, Michael found it again a few yards behind us, and used his fist to pound it back in place. A mile later, it flew off again. Michael found a hammer this time, and pounded it back on. The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful.

Earlier that day, I had decided to leave for Lincoln at 6 A.M. Saturday morning, so after only getting 4 hours of sleep I left Kearney at about 6:15.

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Seriously, from the Kearney on road ramp, to the York exit I saw a grand total of 18 vehicles going eastbound on I-80. It was sooo lonely! For those who do not know, that is about 70% of the two hour trip to Lincoln.

The days plans were pretty simple. Drive to Lincoln, go to a church bible study/breakfast at 8 A.M, go to my cousins wedding in Iowa, and drive back to Lincoln.

Shortly before Lincoln, I remembered that I was counting on wearing my only black shoes to the wedding. Only one problem, the day before, one of the shoes had literally bit the dust. See picture below. :)



The breakfast ended at 9:30 and we were planning on leaving in one hour! I had two options, acquire some strong glue, or buy comfortable fitting shoes pronto!

We decided upon the latter choice, and began at shopko. Shopko had only expensive grandpa looking shoes, so we went to Koals. Koals had a much wider selection, but the only two that fit my price range were all out of stock in my size. *sigh* I sighed heavily, said a quick prayer, and purchased some more expensive ones.

By this time, it was 10:30, we still weren't at our rendezvous point to meet our other passengers, and I wasn't yet dressed for the wedding.

I then found out how well I think in the morning after 4 hours of sleep. My socks were too short, my shirt was stained, and my pants had glitter all over them from who knows where. I shrugged, and piled into the car and we headed off to Orange City, Iowa.

My disheveled appearance was partly remedied by rolling up my sleeves to hide the stain. The glitter, however, was another story. I tried rubbing it off, I tried shaking it off, nothing worked, I was stuck being the "pretty one."

My cousins wedding was supposed to begin at 3 P.M. We arrived 3 minutes late, only too find members of the wedding party leaving mumbling something about forgetting some detail.

Before I go any farther, I just want to say that this wedding was an organizational nightmare.

The actual wedding did not begin til about 3:30. Once seated, the beginning of the ceremony went without a hitch. The grandparents were seated, the parents, the "who gives this man to be married..." When it came time for the message, my uncle had it all prepared. The one detail that was overlooked was a stand for his notes. It was quite difficult to refer to his notes, use hand gestures, and pull out his bible at the same time. Needless to say, the message was wonderful and straight from Romans.

When it came time for the vows, I was quite surprised. Instead of the traditional repeating them after the pastor, my cousins had memorized them and added Ruth's promise to Naomi when she refused to return to Moab. I really enjoyed their recitations.

Then came time for some special music and the lighting of the unity candle. Walking up there together, they lit the candle together. It went out. They tried again, this time it stayed lit. Holding hands, they waited. Behind them, the candle again flickered out. They ignored it, and gazed at each other lovingly.

With the special music finished only two things were left. The pronouncement was the usual. Then after granting Jesse permission to kiss his bride, he grabs her and gives her a bear hug! haha... everyone laughed. Embarrassed, he then kisses her.

They then walk out of the room, and the ushers begin the mass exodus. Seriously, the ushers motioned for the first group to exit with exaggerated hand motions that remind me of cattle herding. Hurrah! Hurarah! Before one row was finished they would motion for the next row, so that by the end we were almost stepping on each other trying to keep up!

If you think that was a disaster, wait til you hear about the refreshments!

Everyone was out of the sanctuary in record time, and waiting for refreshments. Three tables had been set out. On the outer two tables were two punch bowls, and the middle table held the "main course".

Nowhere were signs, or any obvious right way to snatch the snacks. So people lined up, on both sides of the tables going opposite directions and running into each other somewhere in the middle. It was absolute chaos! On top of all that, the middle table had chips, dip, nuts, and a relish tray but only had napkins for the guests! There weren't any plates until quite a bit later but still very few. The ones that did manage to get a plate were held in high esteem and treated like gods and godesses. jk Not quite, but you get the idea.

Anyway, the bride and groom were almost non-existent. One could find one of them at any particular moment, but finding them both together was a rarity. After finally finding both of them, and giving them our blessings and farewells, we headed back home.

Upon arriving home, we were excited that the company Roca hired to replace the water lines in our town was all finished. My parents hadn't had water since last thursday! We turned on the faucet and nothing but air came out! Seeing a note on our front porch, we found out that the company had neglected to connect about 25 houses in the town, and we were one of them!

A message on the answering machine directed us to a neighbor that was willing to share her water with all the people that had been neglected. So we hauled all the buckets we owned down to their house.

We were living like pioneers! Hot water had to be boiled for the massive dish pile, showers had to be taken elsewhere or neglected, and buckets had to be filled and ready for bathroom use.

A wise person once said that "you don't understand the necessity until it is taken away." (Or something to that effect) That is very true.

The last consequence of my 4 hours of sleep was my neglect to bring shorts. I mean, what was I thinking? Its summer, and all I brought was two pairs of jeans! How silly can I be?

Independence Day Poem

This is a neat poem that I received.

Freedom isn't Free

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.


by Cadet Major Kelly Strong
Air Force Junior ROTC 1981

Simply Exhilerating!

Yesterday, the TCS team, heard reports that the ingredients necessary to produce tornadoes existed in several places throughout Nebraska. So we packed up and headed out east to Hebron, NE. I offered to drive, so that Michael could work on streaming our video live through our website, and Benjamin could get the radar, GPS, anemometer, NOAA websites, Stormtrack, Twisterdata, and Google maps fired up and ready for action! Stopping at a gas station, we noticed TornadoVideos.net (more affectionately nicknamed, shakyvideos.net) had brought their armored SRV (Storm Research Vehicle) on the chase.

By now, it was about 4 p.m. The weather outside was quite warm and had very high humidity. Benjamin took the wheel from me, and to the West, we saw an enormous thunderhead that was slowly expanding. After driving for awhile, we stopped again and waited for the storm to develop. Since NOAA updates most of their weather data every 30 minutes, we wait anxiously for the updated data.

By 5, the radar and Benjamin concluded that we had better hightail west FAST! After we made the decision to head west on I-80, we again see the SRV headed that direction too. Again, we decided that we would take the Wood River exit, and then the SRV again stole OUR idea!

By now, above us we could see clouds rotating slowly, and we found a suitable gravel road to sit back and watch the show. :)



The wall cloud in front of us produced several small funnels and two of them managed to touch the ground for a couple seconds. The two that did touch the ground unfortunately took out a couple small farm steads we later found out. :(





When there is a major storm brewing, you see a different crowd on the road. Foreign vehicles with antennas,satellite receivers, and anemometers sticking out of their roof and trunk were everywhere! There were at least 100 storm chasers around this storm, and the main roads were crowded.

After the wall cloud disintegrated, we headed back to the highway and took some pictures of the storm structure.





Turning onto a gravel road to avoid the precipitation, we noticed a dust storm ahead of us. Being the brilliant people we are, we decided to drive straight into it and get some pictures. Dust swirled about our car, and when we exited, the gravel being thrown around, felt like needles constantly scraping our skin. It was incredible! The highest wind speed with our anemometer measured 53m mph!



Seeing another wall cloud forming, we found a paved road and began following it. Seeing rapid rotation directly above us urged us onto Highway 34 out of Grand Island. Highway 34, is a two lane highway, and right about now, both lanes were going the same direction! There were lines and lines of storm chasers on the roads. Everyone that was going to flee apparently already had long ago. :)

Wishing to see the storm structure, we began rapidly heading away from the high precipitous regions of the storm. After going several miles, Michael notices a funnel beginning to form a couple miles behind us in the sky.



Alas, the funnel quickly disappears into the sky and we continued on. Seeing some dust swirl around behind us, we stopped again and took more pictures. :)



After driving towards Aurora on highway 34, Michael frantically yells STOP! Benjamin slams on the breaks, pulls off to the side of the road, and we watch a large funnel descending about a half mile behind us. Radar tells us that it is traveling about 30 mph. We declare this an easy tornado to chase, and continue snapping photos.



The tornado began increasing in its intensity and growing steadily larger until it was more than a quarter mile in diameter!





To keep ahead of the tornado we would squeal to a stop, get out, take pictures, get back in and hit the accelerator HARD! Our pursuer was less than 500 yards away at several points, and Michael could get full frames of the tornado without much magnification! We could feel the inflow jets yanking us towards the swirling funnel, and at one point the car began shaking!

At one point, Benjamin forgot he had turned off the ignition, and was frantically trying to switch it to drive and nothing was happening! We were getting worried with the tornado less than 500 yards behind us and gaining rapidly. Thankfully, Michael was calm, and reminded Benjamin to turn on the ignition and we were fine again. :)

After a few more minutes, the tornado began tapering off and losing some of its intensity.



We stopped again, and were startled to see it gain more strength than it ever had previously. In dismay, we watched several farms sucked up in its path and wondered about the storm chasers behind us almost encompassed within the rotation!



Without witnessing their inevitable fate, we continued on towards Aurora. By now, the tornado was becoming rain wrapped and it was too difficult to see it without being directly adjacent to it. We found it really strange to be in Aurora, NE and not hear sirens blaring! After waiting a few minutes, however, the sirens began their shrill call.

Looking behind us, we could see the storm from a distance and noticed that, after being on the ground for almost 20 minutes, the tornado had finally dissipated. By God's mercy, Aurora was mostly spared from the tornado's fury, but many businesses and farms outside the town had much damage. We found out later that a train had derailed, and early reports said that no injuries had been inflicted.



We stopped and tried to get a few lightening photos, but after the excitement our camera wasn't functioning very well. We reasoned too much sand from the dust storm, and moisture had disabled much of its functionality. It still took pictures however, just very few focusing options were available. :(





After struggling with the camera for awhile, we decided to head back and take some aftermath photos. By the time we got to the other side of Aurora, emergency vehicles had blocked every possible entry into the destruction zone, so we had to take a long detour around it all. The night was dark, but when we reached the crest of a hill we could literally see flashing lights all around us!

Noticing a cloud formation that had lightening spewing from its midst, we stopped and took the last few photos for the day. It almost resembled a mushroom cloud after a nuclear bomb!





After a long day, and the first successful TCS tornado intercept, we headed back to Kearney, NE. We were absolutely exhausted that night, and went to bed as quickly as possible! Higher resolution photos are available on the TCS.net blog!

The unimportance of doctrine

How important is doctrine in the larger scheme of things? What, biblically, holds water before the throne of God?

Using these questions as a premise, I would like to examine Philippians 1:15-18.

Philippians 1:12-18 (ESV)

15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

What is Paul saying here? And how do we interpret his words and apply them to today?

Paul's response to those preaching with sinful intentions and motives is quite extraordinary! He even mentions that some preach solely to make him suffer! His response is complete and utter JOY that, despite their motives, the gospel was being spread!

This is truly remarkable! Do people today still preach the gospel with the wrong intentions? Absolutely! There are churches out there today that exist for the purposes of getting rich, and there are churches that twist the Bible to represent God as always loving but ignore the flip side to attract the crowds.

To take it one step further, Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, and Mormons all incorporate at least a portion of the scriptures into their services. Yes, they may have twisted the gospel and screwed the scriptures, but shouldn't we still be joyful with Paul that the gospel is being preached?

To quote another scripture passage, Ephesians 2:8-9 8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

From our perspective, it is God that saves us. We are not saved because we deserve it, or because of some work we did. To put it simply, no one deserves eternal life!

In the larger sense then, doctrine, has no bearing on someones eternal life. Doctrine is not divinely inspired and thus should never cause us grief or separation unless the gospel is not being preached. God will punish the teacher, if sinful motives are involved, it is only our place to rejoice with Paul that the gospel is still being spread.

Oops... stop breathing... You are polluting the environment!

We can rejoice now, along with Al Gore, and members of the EPA that Carbon Dioxide may be considered a pollutant in our atmosphere.

Anyone that has taken 4th grade science would understand that our atmosphere is made up of over 75% carbon dioxide. Less then 25% is oxygen, and any drastic proportion changes would exterminate all life here on earth. :)

Yay! So what will this mean for us? This means that the EPA would have the power to control our carbon dioxide output. They could come to your house and cite you for having too many vehicles, too few plants, and even too many people!

When will the government control end? It is time to stand up and fight against BIG government while we still own the air we breathe!

The EPA cannot carry out their new regulations until Americans have given their input. Here is a chance to voice your opinion, by sending an email to the EPA.

Yay... time for drastic changes...

I finally have time to make some drastic modifications to my blog, and change this boring design. I have already added a little code that will dynamically greet you according to the time of day. But more changes are on the way. Stay tuned...

Time to dissect the blogs underlying coding. What fun!

A return to SLED

Several weeks ago I authored a post that was entirely about articulating the pro-choice position and leading its followers down the path to a sense of moral absolutes.

Today I received an email that was requesting women who had received abortions to tell their story and "uncover" the tremendous lie. This request was coming from no other than the United Stated Supreme Court! Is it just me, or will Roe vs. Wade soon be heavily scrutinized again and, by God's grace, overturned!!

I would like to explain an acronym that I was first taught while competing in NCFCA Speech and Debate.

Size
Level of Development
Environment
Degree of dependency

This acronym represents the four most common objections people make when attempting to justify a fetus as non-living. All four of these objections can be reduced to their ridiculous conclusions rather easily.

Size is the first objection. When this objection is presented, a couple approaches can be taken. The former is more humorous and and the latter is much more convincing.

All of these objections have a logical comparison. One question that can be asked, would be, "So, are you saying that midgets, because of their size, are less valuable and should be killed?" Another more convincing way asks whether a premature child because of its size, should be killed immediately upon birth?

I think you know where this is headed. Similar questions can be asked with all the other objections. Let me explain one more.

One of the more common objections would be degree of dependency. I will explain that one. I would first ask, well... when a baby is born, can it survive on its own? The answer is obviously no. It needs a nursing mother, it needs shelter, it needs someone to love and care for it. So then, because it can't survive on its own, should we kill all new born babies?

The rest of the objections are relatively self-explanatory. :)