Tag: Danger

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Well, Blow Me Down!

Some folks said Blow me down! meant to hit me or knock me down; but that might not be correct. The phrase goes back the late 1700s, and is a statement that sailors said in a windstorm. A windy place in Nova Scotia was called Cape Blow-me-down, which evolved through time to Cape Blomidon.

Blow me down! eventually became a phrase used when someone was surprised. A relatively new version is, That blows my mind!

Wind is an interesting atmospheric action. It can be gentle for kite-flying; moderate for turning wind-turbines; strong can blow over trucks and trailers; or powerful such as tornados and hurricanes. The story this week is about the third group: strong winds.

Carol and I arrived in La Luz, a small town near Alamogordo, New Mexico on Sunday to visit friends, and planned to head east on Wednesday. But watching the evening news report, we learned that a tremendous windstorm was heading our way. It would hit on Tuesday and turn violent on Wednesday. We considered leaving on Thursday, but snow was forecast for Thursday night and Friday. Our last option was to leave a day early.

So, we toured the space museum in Alamogordo on Monday and toured the Tularosa Museum on Tuesday morning, then headed east up the mountain to Cloudcroft. La Luz is 4,761 feet above sea level and Cloudcroft is 8,668. It was quite a climb, but our car was up to the challenge. Pulling the trailer, I put the 6.2L, 380 HP, 8-speed engine in gear #4 and it was an easy pull up the mountain. Several other cars, pulling no trailers, had stopped beside the road to let their engines cool down, but our engine heat indicator barely moved.

We stopped in Cloudcroft to look at the scenery and have an early dinner, and the winds began greatly increasing. We hugged our friends, bid them adios, and headed east to Hobbs, NM which was projected to be on the fringe of the storm.

When we had the opportunity to watch the news, we learned that our departure was directed by the Lord. The wind blowing through one of the passes going into the Alamogordo basin reached over 100 mph. Remember: hurricane winds begin at 70 mph.

When thinking of the danger of driving in windy situations, we need to consider sustained wind and wind gusts. If the wind is blowing around 20-30 mph, gusts may reach 40 or 50 mph; and although it can be a rocky ride, it is normally safe. Wind advisories are put out if the sustained winds surpass 30 mph. But if the sustained wind reaches 50 mph, gusts may easily reach 60-75, and we may be in trouble.

The gusts are the worst part of the storm because the intermittent pressure can set up sideways trailer motion called oscillations which can cause a turnover.

Having said all that, the simple decision was: if the sustained wind is 50 mph or higher, park the car and trailer. But if we must drive, here are several ideas to consider.

  1. Drive slower: decreased speed decreases the wind pressure.
  2. Use a lower gear: more power on the drive wheels at a slower speed can compensate for some of the crosswinds.
  3. Whether car, trailer, or truck, secure the cargo: a moveable center of gravity can result in losing balance.
  4. Keep a safe distance behind the guy ahead: if either one of us goes over, we don’t want to hit someone or get hit.
  5. Back to basics: if possible, stay off the road. Losing time is less expensive than repairing or replacing the car, trailer, and cargo; and a lost life cannot be replaced.

There are other kinds of storms of life. Some of these storms are political, health, weather, financial, and interpersonal; and God sends us storms for our personal growth. Knowing a storm was about to brew, Jesus told his disciples to go to the other side of the sea (Matthew 14:22-24) because they needed to learn how to trust the Master. Read the story: it’s interesting.

Sometimes we are dragged into storms by others, and we need wisdom to handle the situation. But many times, we generate our own storms by foolishness and disobedience. An example is when Jonah tried to run from God (Jonah 1:1-4).

Whatever kind of storm we encounter, let’s stop; assess the situation; and ask God for wisdom. He will guide us if we listen. He guided us back in New Mexico.

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Unrecognized Dangers

Having been an operations officer (which included safety oversight) at a scientific laboratory for years, I am always on the alert for possible danger. If the grandkids are running around while holding something in their hands, I check to make sure it isn’t something that could hurt them. If I am with a work party and someone is about to climb a ladder, I make sure the ladder is secure. I am always on the lookout for electrical problems. When I was a pastor in New Mexico, several of my parishioners said, “This is the first time we’ve had a safety officer as a pastor.”

Dangerous situations which are easy to spot should be corrected quickly. However, people need to be trained to recognize and understand inherent dangers. Some years ago I was visiting friends who lived in an old house, and they had many children with three under the age of six. As polite as I could, I advised the father to correct a safety issue: five live electrical outlets in the kitchen and the living room did not have covers. If a curious child poked his finger in the socket, it could be fatal. The father began rationalizing that he trained his children not to touch the outlets and thought that spending two dollars for this situation was unnecessary.

But he DID spend the two dollars when, an hour later, he found his two-year-old about to insert her hand into an open socket to pull out a dead moth. That danger suddenly became obvious to the father. Dangerous situations can pose great challenges simply because they are not recognized. Therefore, training is important.

Here’s a minor event that happened with me. I’ve reserved one pair of shoes for working in the yard, and those shoes are kept outside. When I want to wear the shoes, I do not blithely put them on – I check for ants, spiders, crickets, and small snakes.  

When I checked them this time, out flew a big angry hornet. I was glad I checked them; this critter would have redesigned my toes. First Corinthians 12:26 says, “When one member of the body suffers, the whole body suffers with it.” How true.

There are many hidden dangers in life. Terrorists hide explosives in their cars, trucks, and clothing; and it takes highly trained people and animals to detect them. These hidden dangers have killed many thousands of people.

Undetected mechanical problems can become life-threatening issues. An undetected screw on the floor of the cockpit of a military jet caused one to crash, killing both pilots. Leaks in hydraulic systems of cars, trucks, buses, trains, or planes have resulted in fatal crashes. Old, frayed, or improperly installed electrical wiring in walls or in the attic have caused houses to burn down. My sister’s house was a victim.

Unexpected movements underground – earthquakes – have killed millions throughout history. Brown recluses and black widows lurk in dark corners, and copperhead snakes hide in wood piles and in tall grass.

If we foresee or anticipate these dangers, we can “head them off at the pass” so to speak, and mitigate the negative results – at least, to some degree. I am glad to say that mankind has become much better at it.

 But there is one danger in life where man has been a dismal failure at detecting. The results include broken families, poor health, disintegrating society, political corruption, suicide, skyrocketing crime, psychological problems, terrorism, and wars. The Bible calls it sin; it’s a result of refusing to privately and publicly honor God.

Rather than returning to the God of our fathers and correcting personal and societal problems, we ignore God and ignore the cause of the problems. We continue hedonistic, ungodly activities, but spend billions of dollars trying to fix the results. That is irrational. We promote programs which defy God while trying to solve the social ills that we assume are causing the resulting problems. We are intolerant of those who publicly stand for truth because we prefer to show tolerance for anti-Christian beliefs and bizarre and immoral behavior. This is, also, irrational because without a Godly/Christian influence, there is no basis or foundation for truth.

If we insist on pleasing those who live contrary to Scripture while denouncing those who desire a healthy, Godly society, we will never recognize the dangers that are currently leading us to destruction.

The remedy? Study the Bible, turn to Christ, and He will give us wisdom for living: both now and throughout eternity.

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Tornado!

Carol and I were visiting our son, Jeremy, and his family in Oklahoma when my cell phone interrupted us. It was a tornado warning for Siloam Springs. We’ve received tornado warnings in the past and were thankful the storms passed over or around our town. But this time, it was different.

After midnight on October 21, 2019, an EF-2 tornado, accompanied by straight-line winds, hit Siloam Springs and a few other places in northwest Arkansas. An EF-2 can cause major damage.

The next day, our daughter-in-law, Angela, checked the news and found that up to nine tornados hit the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The worst of them was an EF-3. Soon, the topic of windstorms, especially tornados, prompted a discussion among the grandkids.

When one of the granddaughters learned that these circular winds can pick up cars, rip roofs off buildings, topple trucks, and pick up and splinter houses, she asked, “Grandpa, how does a tornado pick up huge things like cars and houses?”

Aha! A teachable moment, and five or six grandkids were close by.

“Gloria, what’s the name of the machine that cleans your carpets?”

“A vacuum.”

“Right. And what does it do?”

“It picks up dirt.”

“Right, again. The roller with brushes on it is sometimes called a beater. The roller turns almost 6,500 times a minute. That’s about 108 turns a second. But the machine also has a fan that sucks in air. So, when the roller and brushes vibrate the carpet and shake the dirt loose, the machine pulls loose dirt in with the air. If the vacuum hits a piece of mud, the mud usually breaks apart and the vacuum sucks up the pieces. Small rocks can’t break apart, so the vacuum just swallows them.”

“That gets loud. But how does a tornado pick up cars or houses?”

“I’m getting there. Does your mama have a blender?”

“Yep.”

“When you turn it on, what happens?”

“It chops up food, spins it, and makes it into a liquid.”

“What does it look like as it’s spinning?”

“It pulls the food down in the center and pushes it up on the sides.”

“Right. A tornado does that but upside down. A tornado is like a huge blender but without the blades. The powerful force of the wind and change of air pressure – vacuum – are what tear things apart. Now, let’s put this all together.

Tornados are like a combination of upside-down blenders and right-side-up vacuums. Vacuum heads are only 8-16 inches wide and can pick up dirt, sand, pennies, little rocks, socks, things like that. But a tornado can be as small as 500 feet wide or as large as several miles wide. They create winds as slow as 80-miles-per-hour, or over 300-miles-per-hour. And they can pick up things that weigh several tons.

 “When a tornado hits a car, the car is like a rock and doesn’t break apart. So, the wind moves the car and the vacuum sucks it up. It’ll get banged up, thrown around, and most of the time it’s destroyed. When a tornado hits a house or building, the wind normally tears it apart like a vacuum cleaner breaks up a piece of mud. The tornado sucks up the pieces of buildings and sends them several yards and sometimes miles away. But once in a while, a gentle part of the tornado – that sounds funny – picks up an entire house without shattering it. The house moves sideways for several feet or is turned around without breaking up.”

“But the plumbing and electrical system has to be repaired.”

“You got it. The power of the wind breaks the house loose from the footing, and the upside-down blender suction picks it up and turns it. However, even though the house might look mostly fine, it might have to be rebuilt anyway because of internal damage.”

That brief, over-simplified explanation satisfied the grandkids’ curiosity.

But tornados of other kinds, such as death in the family, loss of job, poor health, breakup of a marriage, can tear up our lives. We might appear to be fine, but we are broken up on the inside, and simple explanations don’t help. A counselor might help us cope, and friends can help us recover; but only God can help us heal.

Don’t be afraid to ask the Lord for help. John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (NLT). Jesus gave his life for you. Turn to Him and trust Him in the turbulence of your life.

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Do You Plan Ahead?

Yesterday (as of this writing) Carol and I were driving from Rogers to Fayetteville (Arkansas). We took the Sunset Blvd. exit in Springdale, and were waiting for the green light. We were headed for Denny’s on the east side of the I-49 freeway. Three vehicles were in front of us. It was 8:35 am.

The light turned green. Two seconds later, I heard a loud “WHUMP!” Well, to you, it may have sounded like “CRASH!” or “CRASH and then WHUMP!”

As the dust settled, we saw what happened. The light turned red for the traffic on Sunset Blvd. (which is also highway 412), and two drivers made a mistake. The driver of a white pickup heading east on Sunset was in a hurry, and couldn’t stand the thought of waiting another four minutes for the next green light; so he hit the gas-peddle and ran the red light. The driver of the brown pickup who was ready to turn onto 412, assuming the green light meant “safe to go”, made a jack-rabbit start. The two pickups met in the intersection.

I couldn’t see the front end of the brown pickup, but he had broadsided the white pickup and pushed it across the intersection and over the curb on the south side of 412. The front end of the white pickup was mangled with both front tires broken off. Police were called. As I drove past him, the white pickup driver was holding his head in his hands with his elbows resting on the steering wheel. In my estimation, the truck was totaled, and the driver apparently felt miserable and stupid for running the red light – all to save four minutes.

Being in a reckless hurry, the driver lost an entire day – and his truck. His mistake also cost hundreds of other drivers much more than ten minutes in their schedule. And the other driver?

The brown pickup driver, assuming green was “safe to go”, took off without looking to see if it actually was safe. By the time he saw the white pickup, he had already hit it. If only he had hesitated and looked both ways, he would have been aware of what was happening and could have taken preventive action.

Within ten minutes, two police cars, a fire truck, and two ambulances were on the scene. One pickup was destroyed, another needed major surgery, two people were injured, and hundreds of other drivers were delayed.

All because one man wanted to save four minutes!

In our cross-country trips, Carol and I have seen hundreds of careless or reckless people driving foolishly. No matter what the speed limit (Carol and I stick closely to it), many folk drive ten to thirty mph over it. But what’s the big hurry?

Don’t people plan ahead anymore? My father taught me a very important principle: “It’s better to be an hour early than a minute late.” On the other hand, if I do run late, I don’t try to make up lost time as I drive. It’s better to be late than to risk anyone’s life – including my own.

Planning ahead is the key that would prevent most problems on the road; actually, it would prevent many problems in life. If I need to be somewhere at ten o’clock and it will take thirty minutes to get there, I allow an extra fifteen minutes for traffic delays, and leave no later than 9:15. If I’m going across country, I allow extra time in each phase of the trip so I’m not in a hurry. In our last trip to Tennessee, we hit a two-hour traffic tie-up; but we had included four extra hours in the schedule so we weren’t late.

We should plan ahead for every trip – including our final trip in life that starts at death. Have you made appropriate plans? Yes, insurance and estate planning are necessary; but have you planned to meet the Lord Jesus Christ? After all, that will be the most important trip of your eternal existence.

Don’t try to “run the red light” at the eternal intersection and expect to make it across safely. It won’t work. Prepare now by studying the road map – the Bible. Avoid the traffic delays in life – called sin. And call the Highway Patrol – the Holy Spirit – for advice. You must plan ahead in order to safely reach the destination – being with God forever in heaven.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)