Watches and Warnings

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO TX 
328 PM MDT FRI JUL 18 2014 
 
NMC035-182145- 
/O.CON.KEPZ.SV.W.0065.000000T0000Z-140718T2145Z/ 
OTERO NM- 
328 PM MDT FRI JUL 18 2014 
 
...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR CENTRAL OTERO 
COUNTY UNTIL 345 PM MDT... 
 
AT 322 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS REPORTED...PRODUCING  
QUARTER SIZE HAIL...AND DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH.  THIS 
STORM WAS LOCATED 17 MILES EAST OF CLOUDCROFT...MOVING SOUTH AT 5  
MPH. THE CORE OF THE STORM WAS PASSING JUST EAST OF MAYHILL. 
 
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... 
  SIXTEEN SPRINGS... 
  WEED... 
  SACRAMENTO... 
  MAYHILL... 
 
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM... PREPARE IMMEDIATELY FOR LARGE 
HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER... 
PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING AND AWAY FROM WINDOWS. 


 
The above warning is an actual weather warning from the National weather service as I am typing this article.  The national Weather Service puts out various types of weather related watches and warnings to help protect the public from the danger that are posed from severe weather events.  They are intended to save lives of people in the area from the potential dangers of the incoming severe weather by informing them of the current and future location of the threat and the nature of the threat faced.


Having been involved in the world of weather for many years, I have seen people who continually ignore these watches and warnings.  they don't take them seriously.  They have become complacent because they have not experienced the worst of what they are being warned about.  I've had people tell me in tornado warnings that they did not need to pay attention because the tornado never strikes where they are.  just because it hasn't, does not mean that it won't this time.  Just because it did not strike here, does not mean it did not strike there.


Other people actually get mad at the messengers.  They complain about the weatherman, and about the weather service.  They complain about how they are always wrong and never know what they are talking about.  They then make claims that they think they know more than the weatherman and "prove it" by repeating old false wives tales and such.  It never occurs to them to think that they really could be in harms way and that they really do need to take the watches and warnings seriously.


 I've seen people who are in a panic at the last minute realizing that the storm is actually really heading toward them this time.  Panic and confusion set in.  They are unaware of what to do or where to go because they have never really paid attention to what they were being told in the watches and warnings that were put out to inform them.  Some of them actually further endanger themselves by doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing.


This is exactly what happens with God and the Bible too.  People of God go out and share the word in various ways, warning of various dangers facing people and the possible consequences of those dangers.  They give notice of what one should do to avoid those dangers and be safe from them.  They are words of life when facing death.


People do Gods messengers just like they do the weatherman.  They make fun of them, laugh at them, disrespect their knowledge, and generally think they know better than anyone else.  They come up with all kinds of reasoning to justify why they are right and the messenger of God wrong.  They will arrogantly make false proclamations about the situation when in truth they know nothing about it. 


Unbelievers are often lulled into a false sense of security.  They think that because a particular warning has not come to pass that it isn't ever going to, or that it is even possible.  This false sense of security causes them to become bolder and bolder in their disregard of the warnings provided in scripture.  They will ignorantly put themselves further into harms way being totally oblivious to the dangers.


The weather service and the Christian can only put out the warnings, and pass along information to help people to survive.  Neither can make people heed the warnings or do what it will take to stay alive.  Neither are responsible for those who do not heed the warnings.  The job has been done to sound the alarm.  It is up to the individual to accept the warnings, and heed the advice.   We all hope and pray that people will survive the storms in life and live, both in this life and the next. 

Hurricane Andrew: