After all the graduation celebrations, packing up belongings, and saying goodbye to friends and family, my son and I hit the road for the long drive home. We had originally thought we would take our time and do some sight-seeing along the way. But my son was excited to get to his destination, so we decided to drive a few longer days. The first day was perfect driving weather. It wasn’t too hot or too cold, too cloudy or too sunny. We got in a good routine of drive sharing and taking breaks. That night we checked the weather for the next day and found that we would be on the edge of a large storm. We made sure to get up and start driving early. I took the first shift. It was sprinkling as we left and the harder rain followed. The storm was chasing us as the rain continued on and off for the next few hours. Luckily, we remained just on the edge and didn’t experience anything too severe. By the time the skies cleared, I was done. We had a quick bite to eat and my son took over from there. He had clear weather for the rest of the day, but did have to deal with crazy drivers. Perhaps everyone was trying to beat the storm. That night we checked the weather again for the next couple of days. The area where we were heading was supposed to be nice the next day, but getting bad storms the following day. It was beautiful weather for most of the day as anticipated and we made very good time. We debated whether to stop somewhere for the night, or keep going. We knew we didn’t want to be in the area the next day, as severe weather was likely. When we took a break for dinner, we were only 3 hours from home. As we left the restaurant, we saw dark clouds not too far away, and the wind was picking up. Decision time. Stay and take the storm as it came, or try to beat it. We opted for the latter – we were so close to home. I took the wheel and drove maybe 15 minutes when we got the alert on our phones – tornado warning, seek shelter. We were skirting the edge of the storm and could see the tumultuous clouds. At this point, there was nowhere to seek shelter. And now, there was an even larger, scarier storm right in front of us with lightning in abundance. My son kept an eye on the clouds, we made an emergency exit plan, said lots of prayers and continued on. It didn’t take long before the wind and torrential rain came. I followed the car in front of me just close enough so I could see his lights to guide me on the road. At one point, the raindrops were so large and hit the windshield so hard, I was afraid it was going to crack. Just as we made it to the next town things settled down somewhat and there was blue sky in the distance. We received another severe weather alert on the phone. I was not about to stop and wait to see what would happen – the blue sky was so enticing. It rained and blew on and off as we made our way out of the storm, and a rainbow appeared. We thanked God for getting us through. Once clear of the storm, we looked back at the awesome clouds. We were so grateful when we arrived safe and sound to my parent’s house. The next day we found that the storm we went through did in fact produce tornadoes and more severe weather right where we had been the day before. Even though it was frightening, we were glad we kept going and didn’t stop.

I Found God today in safe travels through scary storms.