This blog will probably take me a wee bit to type...my finger is pretty bruised and swollen so I'm icing it and typing with the other hand. I'm hoping that it's not actually broken which is kind of a possibility considering everytime I pulled my finger to get it to unjam it cracked just a little and didn't do anything. I can't straighten it even forcefully and can't bend it completely either...any suggestions?
Today was a pretty boring day since it was a travel day to set up for tomorrow. However, if it pays off by allowing us to be in good postition for good storms tomorrow then it's most def worth it! Yesterday, we were thinking that today would possibly be a chase day but we knew that there wasn't a great possibility for that. After looking at the SPC's predictions and making our own based on maps, models, and soundings last night and this morning we realized that there was nothing worth our time. The cold front stalled yesterday that we were relying on to get our storms forming for yesterday so we still didn't have that on our side for today. Also, the moisture still wasn't there to create the energy needed.
We did get a lot of rest today though since we met at 9:15 CDT and didn't leave our hotel until about 11:15 CDT. The drive wasn't bad either since it was only about 6 or so hours after breaks and everything. It was another constant sleeping van ride so I think we're finally all rested somewhat well. We got to our hotel in Sioux City, IA at about 6:00 CDT so we did some laundry and then we went to a grocery store to get some dinner.
It was a huge blow to each of us to hear about the supercells that formed in Indiana and southern Ohio that produced 3 tornadoes collectively. I first heard about the severe weather from my brother Alex who wanted to rub it in my face...of course! A lot of the others were getting calls and texts from people who were in Indiana and decided to chase the storms but we were all so tired of hearing about it and it actually discouraged us even more...at least me anyways. So, for that reason I don't care that those cells popped up in Indiana and I don't care that I missed out on that tornado...it all happened in the dark anyways which made it too dangerous and less likely to even see it. It was somewhat of a good learning tool though because we were able to look at the live radar and forecast the best spot for the tornado to appear. Our professor used the opportunity to reiterate some of his main points about supercell formation and spotting them on the radar.
That's about all we did for today and we're really putting all of our marbles into tomorrow's possibilities. Right now we're making our decisions based on the SPC's convective outlook that is showing that there is a 30% chance for severe thunderstorms in southeastern North Dakota and Minnesota area. Around that are some wider areas of hail and wind chances. The SPC is also calling for CAPE values from 1500 to about 2500 which is decent for where we need those to be to develop some severe storms. They also call for some moderate vertical shear so there is a decent chance that some supercells can pop up with a result of some tornadic activity. Personally, I think that our best chances will be in the southeastern portion of South Dakota. Here, it looks like there will be the best wind shear to allow for decent amounts of updrafts and downdrafts without them cancelling each other out. Also, there seems to be some good dew points in that area to create enough moisture to create the convection we need and the CAPES look decent in this area as well. Basically, looking at all of our models and maps for the Minnesota, South Dakota area I think that everything seems to be matching up nicely right on the east-southeast border of South Dakota and Minnesota on the South Dakota side. We have great dew points, temps, not much cloud cover, CAPES, helicity, low LCL's, and decent shear. Also, the jet sream is expected to be covering right over South Dakota and Minnesota which will also help out a lot. Of course, I'm still early in my forecasting career, considering I've learned most of all of it since being in this class, but I think that these forecasted models show good potential for this area in the convective outlook. I guess we'll see!
Well, hope for the best tomorrow!
Good night!
May 30, 2009
May 29, 2009
Day 8 of the Great Storm Chase!
Today was another incredibly long day...probably the longest overall of the trip thus far. We left Denver, CO at about 6:30 am MDT and got here to Abilene, KS at about 7:15 CDT meaning we had about a 14-hour or so driving experience today.
We headed out with the prospects of following some decent-looking models and soundings for good storms in northeastern Nebraska but they crapped out on us. It was SO disappointing and disheartening to do so much work and make so many sacrifices to get to this storm on time and have it not even form. One of our biggest problems, a lot really, was lack of moisture. Our dew points were so low and our temperatures were so high. We had temperatures all around the area around the upper 80's into the 90's and we had dew points near the 40's and 50's--absolutely ridiculous and horrible for any kind of decent cloud development. We had the surface heating in place but no moisture to create the type of warm, moist, buoyant air that we need to create that convection into the storm. The lack of moisture didn't allow for that and it also shoved the LCL way too high for our cloud bases. Because of the high LCL, we didn't have very good latent heat, a cap too low to allow for vertical development, and low CAPE values. Another big issue we had was the warmth of the air above our cap. Normally, the cap forms where the inversion occurs, when the layer of air above that point is warmer than the air below it (the LFC level), but the inversion was so warm that the parcel of air rising could not break through that cap to create more vertical development. The warm air is needed to rise because it is less dense than cold air, thus "floating" easily to the upper part of the atmosphere through the more dense air, like a hot air balloon. The air inside the balloon has to be heated in order for the balloon to continue to rise. When the person stops heating the air, that's when the balloon starts to sink back down (the air inside the balloon becomes colder than the environment. The problem was, the air above the LFC level was so warm that the buoyant parcels of air (thermals) were too cool relative to the air aloft to break through that cap. This activity was pretty evident as we saw the clouds aloft looking very fair-weather. The cumulus clouds were not building much at all and there were definitely not many towers forming at all either. There did seem to be some decent amount of shear aloft though as we were able to see the top of the towers that did form somewhat shift over to the side of the bottom of the cloud. Unfortunately, nothing much else was working on our side to create any type of storms much less a super cell.
Other than that we spent the entire time driving, obviously. We did stop in the part of Kansas that is apparently the geographic center of the contiguous 48 states of the US...great...haha. Also, I did talk to Steve Simpson on WIBC 93.1 FM in Indianapolis today. They've been following our trip and interviewing some of us most each day. Today I had the honor of interviewing but because of lack of communication, I didn't interview as long as they normally do because the segment was most of the way over by the time we finally got a hold of them. The interview can be found on http://www.wibc.com/simpson/.
Well, tomorrow looks like a positioning day for Sunday so yes, more driving! It looks like we might be heading back up to northern Missouri or so but I'm not completely sure on that. Oh and I jammed my finger somewhat bad today but minor details..it'll be okay. Hope for the best! We need bad weather fast!!
Goodnight!
We headed out with the prospects of following some decent-looking models and soundings for good storms in northeastern Nebraska but they crapped out on us. It was SO disappointing and disheartening to do so much work and make so many sacrifices to get to this storm on time and have it not even form. One of our biggest problems, a lot really, was lack of moisture. Our dew points were so low and our temperatures were so high. We had temperatures all around the area around the upper 80's into the 90's and we had dew points near the 40's and 50's--absolutely ridiculous and horrible for any kind of decent cloud development. We had the surface heating in place but no moisture to create the type of warm, moist, buoyant air that we need to create that convection into the storm. The lack of moisture didn't allow for that and it also shoved the LCL way too high for our cloud bases. Because of the high LCL, we didn't have very good latent heat, a cap too low to allow for vertical development, and low CAPE values. Another big issue we had was the warmth of the air above our cap. Normally, the cap forms where the inversion occurs, when the layer of air above that point is warmer than the air below it (the LFC level), but the inversion was so warm that the parcel of air rising could not break through that cap to create more vertical development. The warm air is needed to rise because it is less dense than cold air, thus "floating" easily to the upper part of the atmosphere through the more dense air, like a hot air balloon. The air inside the balloon has to be heated in order for the balloon to continue to rise. When the person stops heating the air, that's when the balloon starts to sink back down (the air inside the balloon becomes colder than the environment. The problem was, the air above the LFC level was so warm that the buoyant parcels of air (thermals) were too cool relative to the air aloft to break through that cap. This activity was pretty evident as we saw the clouds aloft looking very fair-weather. The cumulus clouds were not building much at all and there were definitely not many towers forming at all either. There did seem to be some decent amount of shear aloft though as we were able to see the top of the towers that did form somewhat shift over to the side of the bottom of the cloud. Unfortunately, nothing much else was working on our side to create any type of storms much less a super cell.
Other than that we spent the entire time driving, obviously. We did stop in the part of Kansas that is apparently the geographic center of the contiguous 48 states of the US...great...haha. Also, I did talk to Steve Simpson on WIBC 93.1 FM in Indianapolis today. They've been following our trip and interviewing some of us most each day. Today I had the honor of interviewing but because of lack of communication, I didn't interview as long as they normally do because the segment was most of the way over by the time we finally got a hold of them. The interview can be found on http://www.wibc.com/simpson/.
Well, tomorrow looks like a positioning day for Sunday so yes, more driving! It looks like we might be heading back up to northern Missouri or so but I'm not completely sure on that. Oh and I jammed my finger somewhat bad today but minor details..it'll be okay. Hope for the best! We need bad weather fast!!
Goodnight!
Day 7 of the Great Storm Chase!
We just finished an unexpected meeting to make an unexpected call for tomorrow...we're leaving at 6 am to head to eastern Nebraska to get there in time for an opportunity to set up for a possible supercell outbreak. We're hoping to get there within 9 hours to get there in time...wow! Haha but we're all just ecstatic about the opportunity to actually chase SOMETHING!
As far as today went, we hit up Walmart for a few things that people were in need of and then we checked out the UCAR (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) sight in Boulder, CO which was an AWESOME experience! We got a free tour and we got to check out the sight that had an AMAZING view of all of Boulder and all of Denver because it was right on the mountainside.
A tornado generating machine...probably the best invention EVER!
After that, we headed to Golden, CO because a lot of the guys wanted to check out the area because that's where the Coors Brewery is located. Yes, we ended up touring the facility, haha. It was actually a lot more interesting than I expected and for the people over 21, they got 3 free full-sized beers to drink at the end of the tour. It was a fun time and I learned a lot about the biggest brewery sight in the world.
Next, we went to Morrison, CO to see the Red Rocks and the famous amphitheater that is completely natural. We couldn't really stop to see the actual amphitheater because there was a punk rost festival, lol, but we stopped just above it to take some beautiful pictures of the view.
Today has been an absolutely breath-taking day looking at all these amazing sights. We got back early tonight to our hotel that we stayed in last night (still in Denver) so of course we decided to play a football game. It was 9 of us total that played so the team I was on had one sub. It was such a fun game but we had to play in a parking lot next door because there was absolutely no grass space nearby. I thought it was funny because the guys told me I was one of the guys now...no problem!
It turned out to be a pretty competitive game and it's not everyday that you get to play defense against your professor and smack the ball of his hands, lol. I made a few good plays to where I scored a touchdown and caught one pass right along the boundary and ended up diving into a bush! That was the funniest but scariest thing, haha. There was a light post within that bush and I maybe missed it by 5 inches or so but it was worth it and I held onto the ball so it's all good. Our team won...of course ;)
Well, I'm pretty tired right now and still need to pack and shower for our early early day tomorrow. Hope for the best!
Good night!
As far as today went, we hit up Walmart for a few things that people were in need of and then we checked out the UCAR (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) sight in Boulder, CO which was an AWESOME experience! We got a free tour and we got to check out the sight that had an AMAZING view of all of Boulder and all of Denver because it was right on the mountainside.
A tornado generating machine...probably the best invention EVER!
After that, we headed to Golden, CO because a lot of the guys wanted to check out the area because that's where the Coors Brewery is located. Yes, we ended up touring the facility, haha. It was actually a lot more interesting than I expected and for the people over 21, they got 3 free full-sized beers to drink at the end of the tour. It was a fun time and I learned a lot about the biggest brewery sight in the world.
Next, we went to Morrison, CO to see the Red Rocks and the famous amphitheater that is completely natural. We couldn't really stop to see the actual amphitheater because there was a punk rost festival, lol, but we stopped just above it to take some beautiful pictures of the view.
Today has been an absolutely breath-taking day looking at all these amazing sights. We got back early tonight to our hotel that we stayed in last night (still in Denver) so of course we decided to play a football game. It was 9 of us total that played so the team I was on had one sub. It was such a fun game but we had to play in a parking lot next door because there was absolutely no grass space nearby. I thought it was funny because the guys told me I was one of the guys now...no problem!
It turned out to be a pretty competitive game and it's not everyday that you get to play defense against your professor and smack the ball of his hands, lol. I made a few good plays to where I scored a touchdown and caught one pass right along the boundary and ended up diving into a bush! That was the funniest but scariest thing, haha. There was a light post within that bush and I maybe missed it by 5 inches or so but it was worth it and I held onto the ball so it's all good. Our team won...of course ;)
Well, I'm pretty tired right now and still need to pack and shower for our early early day tomorrow. Hope for the best!
Good night!
May 28, 2009
Day 6 of the Great Storm Chase!
Tonight we are in the beautiful and amazing Denver, CO. I think this is one city we ALL were in excitement about to see. I've been here once several years ago when my parents and I took a western roadtrip through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado but I can't tell you how amazing it is to be back. Just shortly after passing the state line from Wyoming into Colorado you could see the snowpeaked mountains of the Rockies...AMAZING!
Before we headed to Denver, we hit up the state museum and state capital building in Wyoming since we were in the state's capital city. It was actually pretty funny because we all have a tendency to grab the football or frisbee at every stop we make and throw it around for a little bit to pass the time and of course we did that here. After coming out of the museum we ran to the lawn just in front of the state capital building and ended up playing a pickup game of van 1 vs. van 2, haha. It was a lot of fun and just the activity we needed to revamp.
We came into Denver and headed straight for Coors Field to catch the Rockies vs. Dodgers baseball game that started at 1:10 MDT (only my second major league game ever). It was HOT! Clear, beautiful, sunny skies and warm temperatures of about 74 or so and we were directly in the sunlight. Yes, I have another beautiful sunglass tan line and another farmers tan from my shirt. A lot of people got burns on themselves and ridiculous tan lines as well so I guess I fit in. We got great seats for a little over $20 just behind left field. The stadium was really sweet! The bullpen even had its own fountain and little oasis going on, haha.
Unfortunately, after leaving Cheyenne and heading to Denver I started to get a slight headache. When we got to Denver it was starting to get worse and it kept getting worse as we sat in the sun. By the time we got in the vans to head to our hotel to check in it was starting to flirt with the migraine line and it was pretty unbearable. I somehow carried my stuff up the 3 flights of stairs to Heather's and my room and I set my stuff down and literally just fell on my bed and slept for about half an hour. We were taking a short break before heading downtown to eat dinner and check out the sites...I was pretty bummed that I felt so horrible at only 5:30 pm. I decided that it'd probably be best, despite what I truly wanted to do, to stay back at the hotel and take it easy instead of joining the rest of the group for dinner. I didn't want to wear myself even more thin and I definitely wanted to try to get back into tip top shape for the weekend when we have somewhat of a shot for catching some storms.
My day ended pretty early, needless to say, and I'm sad to say I spent most of my time in the beautiful Denver watching Time Warp, Mythbusters, and Wipeout. Thankfully we're spending tomorrow in Denver again to check out some more sites. There's talks of hitting up the NWS office here in Denver, maybe going to the Coors brewery in Golden, and maybe going to the Rocky Mountain National Park.
WIBC 93.1 FM in Indianapolis has been contacting us daily to talk to our group to get interviews for the Steve Simpson show. Our professor, Dr. Call, talked to them a few times and one of the students, Andrew Duvall, spoke to them today. They seem really interested in what we're doing and how we're going about this trip. You can check it out on his show from 3-7 pm or on the streaming feed at http://www.wibc.com/simpson/. They're going to try to talk to everyone from the trip before it's all over in 12 days.
Still no storms right now...hope for the best!
Good night!
Before we headed to Denver, we hit up the state museum and state capital building in Wyoming since we were in the state's capital city. It was actually pretty funny because we all have a tendency to grab the football or frisbee at every stop we make and throw it around for a little bit to pass the time and of course we did that here. After coming out of the museum we ran to the lawn just in front of the state capital building and ended up playing a pickup game of van 1 vs. van 2, haha. It was a lot of fun and just the activity we needed to revamp.
We came into Denver and headed straight for Coors Field to catch the Rockies vs. Dodgers baseball game that started at 1:10 MDT (only my second major league game ever). It was HOT! Clear, beautiful, sunny skies and warm temperatures of about 74 or so and we were directly in the sunlight. Yes, I have another beautiful sunglass tan line and another farmers tan from my shirt. A lot of people got burns on themselves and ridiculous tan lines as well so I guess I fit in. We got great seats for a little over $20 just behind left field. The stadium was really sweet! The bullpen even had its own fountain and little oasis going on, haha.
Unfortunately, after leaving Cheyenne and heading to Denver I started to get a slight headache. When we got to Denver it was starting to get worse and it kept getting worse as we sat in the sun. By the time we got in the vans to head to our hotel to check in it was starting to flirt with the migraine line and it was pretty unbearable. I somehow carried my stuff up the 3 flights of stairs to Heather's and my room and I set my stuff down and literally just fell on my bed and slept for about half an hour. We were taking a short break before heading downtown to eat dinner and check out the sites...I was pretty bummed that I felt so horrible at only 5:30 pm. I decided that it'd probably be best, despite what I truly wanted to do, to stay back at the hotel and take it easy instead of joining the rest of the group for dinner. I didn't want to wear myself even more thin and I definitely wanted to try to get back into tip top shape for the weekend when we have somewhat of a shot for catching some storms.
My day ended pretty early, needless to say, and I'm sad to say I spent most of my time in the beautiful Denver watching Time Warp, Mythbusters, and Wipeout. Thankfully we're spending tomorrow in Denver again to check out some more sites. There's talks of hitting up the NWS office here in Denver, maybe going to the Coors brewery in Golden, and maybe going to the Rocky Mountain National Park.
WIBC 93.1 FM in Indianapolis has been contacting us daily to talk to our group to get interviews for the Steve Simpson show. Our professor, Dr. Call, talked to them a few times and one of the students, Andrew Duvall, spoke to them today. They seem really interested in what we're doing and how we're going about this trip. You can check it out on his show from 3-7 pm or on the streaming feed at http://www.wibc.com/simpson/. They're going to try to talk to everyone from the trip before it's all over in 12 days.
Still no storms right now...hope for the best!
Good night!
May 27, 2009
Day 5 of the Great Storm Chase!
Wow, another LOONG day! We started out in Rapid City, SD at a little after 9:30 am MDT and we just got to our hotel in Cheyenne, WY at around 10:40 pm MDT. We hit up a lot of sites today and didn't do any chasing at all because there was absolutely nothing to chase anywhere near us. It was a beautiful but somewhat cold day to catch in all these sites that were truly amazing!
We hit up a geology museum first in Rapid City and then we moved on to see Mt. Rushmore! I was amazed at how small it looked from the ground but it was so awesome actually seeing it in person and learning about how it was carved and all that. They used dynamite!! I guess you could say the sculpture was a dynamite idea....haha, sorry but the whole theme of our trip has been a pun war! We have daily competitions and the more you can do and the more creative the better!
After Mt. Rushmore, we drove higher into the Black Hills of South Dakota and we saw such amazing beauty! The site on top of the hills was just STUNNING! You could see from miles around, nothing like I've truly experienced before. It was really sweet to see Mt. Rushmore at about eye level miles away surrounded by beautiful trees and an amazing skyline. There was also a lot of wildlife roaming around like buffalo, deer, elk, donkeys, and antelopes. A lot of donkeys were even in the middle of the road just hanging out!
We also saw the Crazy Horse monument that's being built. It's such an amazing story that I didn't even know existed until I came out here! It's been in progress since 1943 and is taking such a long time because one man worked on it completely alone for a long time and they aren't and will not take any government funding! It's so cool and I can't wait to see it when it's finished!
We moved on after all the sites to head to our final destination for the day, our hotel in Cheyenne, WY. Wyoming was just as plain but beautiful as Iowa and South Dakota. We even drove through a town that had a sign that said, "Population 1." Haha! I didn't know that existed!!
I have to say, after spending all this time in the van with no one but guys is a little exhausting in and of itself! It's nothing but raunchy jokes, sports, and puns 24/7. I have to say, the names of some of these towns and gas stations truly aren't helping....I won't go into detail about the names because the innuendo is so strong that it wouldn't quite even be PG-13. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that Heather and I are always in separate vans (the only two girls out of the 12 on our trip). We can't having the men perculating their ideas and jokes all in one place I guess...of course they use the walkie talkies for that.
Tonight was interesting because the hotel/motel we chose to stay in was EXTREMELY sketchy...Andrew was our trip planner for the day so he had to try to find a decent hotel under or at our nightly room rate budget and I had the computer with the internet in our other van so I helped to look at some of that stuff online. Well, Cheyenne is apparently extremely expensive so we only had a few options. One of which was the Rodeway Inn and we were able to book 4 rooms at $58 each...that should've been our first clue, haha. The ammenities on the websites I found included disco, toilet, and an AM/FM radio! Like I said, we didn't have many options! We decided to go for the hotel for this price instead of La Quinta because it was just a few dollars over our limit per room so we could save for something great in Denver. The jokes poured in when we came into the parking lot...the motel doubled as a bus station and there were some less-than safe appearing people hanging out and they all looked very angry. The place looked very rough and broken down and not very well lit...a few of the guys that were the most apprehensive took a look in a room before we actually checked in and found some questionable things under the pillow on the bed so we decided to move on to La Quinta. It was actually one of the funniest experiences of the whole trip though...VERY shady.
Tomorrow we're headed to Denver, CO to catch a Dodgers vs. Rockies baseball game because it's another non-stormm chase day. I'm really excited to finally be in Colorado with amazing sites and breathtaking beauty to take in! It should be great and it's only an hour and a half from where we're staying tonight.
Let's hope that what the Storm Prediction Center and we are predicting about some possibility of storms worth chasing coming into the Great Plains by June 3 is accurate. There's still hope! Hope for the best!
Good night!
We hit up a geology museum first in Rapid City and then we moved on to see Mt. Rushmore! I was amazed at how small it looked from the ground but it was so awesome actually seeing it in person and learning about how it was carved and all that. They used dynamite!! I guess you could say the sculpture was a dynamite idea....haha, sorry but the whole theme of our trip has been a pun war! We have daily competitions and the more you can do and the more creative the better!
After Mt. Rushmore, we drove higher into the Black Hills of South Dakota and we saw such amazing beauty! The site on top of the hills was just STUNNING! You could see from miles around, nothing like I've truly experienced before. It was really sweet to see Mt. Rushmore at about eye level miles away surrounded by beautiful trees and an amazing skyline. There was also a lot of wildlife roaming around like buffalo, deer, elk, donkeys, and antelopes. A lot of donkeys were even in the middle of the road just hanging out!
We also saw the Crazy Horse monument that's being built. It's such an amazing story that I didn't even know existed until I came out here! It's been in progress since 1943 and is taking such a long time because one man worked on it completely alone for a long time and they aren't and will not take any government funding! It's so cool and I can't wait to see it when it's finished!
We moved on after all the sites to head to our final destination for the day, our hotel in Cheyenne, WY. Wyoming was just as plain but beautiful as Iowa and South Dakota. We even drove through a town that had a sign that said, "Population 1." Haha! I didn't know that existed!!
I have to say, after spending all this time in the van with no one but guys is a little exhausting in and of itself! It's nothing but raunchy jokes, sports, and puns 24/7. I have to say, the names of some of these towns and gas stations truly aren't helping....I won't go into detail about the names because the innuendo is so strong that it wouldn't quite even be PG-13. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that Heather and I are always in separate vans (the only two girls out of the 12 on our trip). We can't having the men perculating their ideas and jokes all in one place I guess...of course they use the walkie talkies for that.
Tonight was interesting because the hotel/motel we chose to stay in was EXTREMELY sketchy...Andrew was our trip planner for the day so he had to try to find a decent hotel under or at our nightly room rate budget and I had the computer with the internet in our other van so I helped to look at some of that stuff online. Well, Cheyenne is apparently extremely expensive so we only had a few options. One of which was the Rodeway Inn and we were able to book 4 rooms at $58 each...that should've been our first clue, haha. The ammenities on the websites I found included disco, toilet, and an AM/FM radio! Like I said, we didn't have many options! We decided to go for the hotel for this price instead of La Quinta because it was just a few dollars over our limit per room so we could save for something great in Denver. The jokes poured in when we came into the parking lot...the motel doubled as a bus station and there were some less-than safe appearing people hanging out and they all looked very angry. The place looked very rough and broken down and not very well lit...a few of the guys that were the most apprehensive took a look in a room before we actually checked in and found some questionable things under the pillow on the bed so we decided to move on to La Quinta. It was actually one of the funniest experiences of the whole trip though...VERY shady.
Tomorrow we're headed to Denver, CO to catch a Dodgers vs. Rockies baseball game because it's another non-stormm chase day. I'm really excited to finally be in Colorado with amazing sites and breathtaking beauty to take in! It should be great and it's only an hour and a half from where we're staying tonight.
Let's hope that what the Storm Prediction Center and we are predicting about some possibility of storms worth chasing coming into the Great Plains by June 3 is accurate. There's still hope! Hope for the best!
Good night!
May 26, 2009
Day 4 of the Great Storm Chase!
Tonight we're stationed in Rapid City, SD. We started off in Murdo, SD once again and headed to eastern South Dakota to catch some cells that looked capable of producing just what we wanted...tornadoes! We made a quick stop in Pierre first (the state capital) and then tried to station ourselves in Huron, SD.
Today was actually pretty exciting since we were able to track down the best part of the storm for producing tornadoes. Everything was accounted for except for a few of the necessities in the recipe to build tornadoes. We had decent amount of CAPE, the towers were punching through the caps, we had inflow from the back of the cell, we even saw a minor shelf cloud portruding out of the storm! There was so much wind at the surface and a lot warm and moist air to help build up the storm even more. We saw some AMAZING sights but unfortunately one of those wasn't a tornado.
We even drove through pea-sized hail when we decided to cut our losses and head back towards Rapid City. We wanted to take a quick drive by the only corn palace in the world first, lol, so we went a little more into Mitchell, SD to see it.
I'm starting to realize the complexity and the beauty of tornadoes even more. It takes SO MUCH for these things to form and it truly is a work of art. We had a lot of things on our side but we had no wind shear up aloft, no helicity, no rotation really at all, and we had a lot of rain associated with this storm. There is hope for us if we actually do get a storm capable of producing tornadoes because our team is great at pinpointing the best and most capable spots thus far.
Hopefully, the next time we see such an amazing sight it'll be right before we see what we came thousands of miles to see...a tornado! We're headed to Colorado tomorrow to see what pops up for Wednesday but it looks like our best chances for anything happening for us will be near the last few days of our trip when a nice trough will be moving through Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas area and we'll have some jet stream streaking through the area as well.
We can seem to get uplift in any of these storms or they're dying off by moving into areas covered in cloud decks that suck up all the sun's radiation. We need surface-level heating, strong winds aloft, high CAPE values, opposing velocities aloft, and we need helicity. So far we've only had one or a few of this things and really we need all of them for any chance of a tornado forming. Hope for the best!
Good night!
Today was actually pretty exciting since we were able to track down the best part of the storm for producing tornadoes. Everything was accounted for except for a few of the necessities in the recipe to build tornadoes. We had decent amount of CAPE, the towers were punching through the caps, we had inflow from the back of the cell, we even saw a minor shelf cloud portruding out of the storm! There was so much wind at the surface and a lot warm and moist air to help build up the storm even more. We saw some AMAZING sights but unfortunately one of those wasn't a tornado.
We even drove through pea-sized hail when we decided to cut our losses and head back towards Rapid City. We wanted to take a quick drive by the only corn palace in the world first, lol, so we went a little more into Mitchell, SD to see it.
I'm starting to realize the complexity and the beauty of tornadoes even more. It takes SO MUCH for these things to form and it truly is a work of art. We had a lot of things on our side but we had no wind shear up aloft, no helicity, no rotation really at all, and we had a lot of rain associated with this storm. There is hope for us if we actually do get a storm capable of producing tornadoes because our team is great at pinpointing the best and most capable spots thus far.
Hopefully, the next time we see such an amazing sight it'll be right before we see what we came thousands of miles to see...a tornado! We're headed to Colorado tomorrow to see what pops up for Wednesday but it looks like our best chances for anything happening for us will be near the last few days of our trip when a nice trough will be moving through Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas area and we'll have some jet stream streaking through the area as well.
We can seem to get uplift in any of these storms or they're dying off by moving into areas covered in cloud decks that suck up all the sun's radiation. We need surface-level heating, strong winds aloft, high CAPE values, opposing velocities aloft, and we need helicity. So far we've only had one or a few of this things and really we need all of them for any chance of a tornado forming. Hope for the best!
Good night!
Day 3 of the Great Storm Chase!
Well, this is a day late but I was so exhausted last night that as soon as we got to the hotel I changed and crashed! We've been booking some pretty long days and it's starting to take a toll on my body. We did get to chase a little bit yesterday (day 3) to no avail really, unfortunately.
Derek and I were the Day 1 people, thus the radar watchers and deciders of where to move in for storms, and we found some decent opportunities in northwestern Nebraska. We went to see the Badlands earlier that day as we drove from Murdo to Rapid City area.
We were headed right for where we expected the storms to move in and then a couple spotters in our van looked behind us and saw a tower starting to build which gave a good sign that we might've actually been moving away from something important.
We stopped and played some football on a random road that gave us a great view of the tower as well as our original storm that we were following. We took some readings and then realized that everything was pretty much crapping out on us. We didn't have much CAPE, no helicity, not much punching through of caps, etc. The weather was definitely not on our side!
It's been really interesting to actually see what's going on on the radar live! It's great to be able to see how it looks on the radar and then just look out the window to get an actual view of what that's supposed to look like; talk about a learning experience! Watching the visible satellite and seeing the bright white on there and then looking out to see massive cumulus towers is just phenomenal! We've seen some pretty sweet sights even if we haven't seen a tornado yet...there's still hope!
Good night!
Derek and I were the Day 1 people, thus the radar watchers and deciders of where to move in for storms, and we found some decent opportunities in northwestern Nebraska. We went to see the Badlands earlier that day as we drove from Murdo to Rapid City area.
We were headed right for where we expected the storms to move in and then a couple spotters in our van looked behind us and saw a tower starting to build which gave a good sign that we might've actually been moving away from something important.
We stopped and played some football on a random road that gave us a great view of the tower as well as our original storm that we were following. We took some readings and then realized that everything was pretty much crapping out on us. We didn't have much CAPE, no helicity, not much punching through of caps, etc. The weather was definitely not on our side!
It's been really interesting to actually see what's going on on the radar live! It's great to be able to see how it looks on the radar and then just look out the window to get an actual view of what that's supposed to look like; talk about a learning experience! Watching the visible satellite and seeing the bright white on there and then looking out to see massive cumulus towers is just phenomenal! We've seen some pretty sweet sights even if we haven't seen a tornado yet...there's still hope!
Good night!
May 24, 2009
Day 2 of the Great Storm Chase!
Today we ended our journey 12 hours after it started at around 1060 miles into our tirp in total. We're stationed in Murdo, SD for the night (in between absolutely nothing and a rock). We're expecting to head to Rapid City, SD tomorrow morning and hopefully hit up the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore although it's expected to rain all day.
Today, we didn't see as many amazing sites as yesterday but we hit up Sioux City, IA for lunch after leaving our hotel in Waverly, IA. If you thought Indiana was horrible to drive in, try Iowa!! There is absolutely nothing to see but fields from miles aorund with a lot of random cattle behind some fences. We woke up to a rainy day and didn't really see much other weather the entire day.
We had our first thought of a chase with some small cells popping up in southern Nebraska that we decided to go after. It was actually a little funny because we were checking out the radar's and upper-level maps to figure out what was going on in southern Nebraska and right when we decided not to mess with it and everyone started talking. Dr. Call shockingly said, "There's been a tornado warning!" and everyone instantly yanked their heads back to the computer in surprise. There was no indications that these cells could produce any sort of reasonable tornado with the lack of wind shear, strong heating to create energy, and any strong convection within the storm. However, there did seem to pop up some SMALL amount of rotation right were the tornado dropped right when it did...thus non-predictable from our standpoint.
We didn't want to chase a warning but we did see some reason to try to hit up a few cells developing from that small batch of storms so we decided to head that way. Unfortunately, there was a large mass of clouds that hung over mid to northern Nebraska that caused for very little daytime heating at the surface, thus cutting off any source of energy to feed or even sustain any type of storm worth chasing. We realized that the cell we were going after was quickly fading heading into this much cooler and dry air, basically choking the storm, so we decided to hit up another cell that seemed promising near Hastings, NE. Hastings had much warmer temps with a temperature around 81 degrees compared to the 54 degree temps in our original point of interest. After realizing that we were chasing basically nothing, we decided to cut our losses and start heading back north in South Dakota to put ourselves into position for tomorrow.
We came into the Central Daylight Time zone last night and were in it for all of today and tomorrow we'll be traveling into the Mountain Daylight Time zone; we're actually only a few miles away from the crossover line.
One funny story from today was when we stopped at a Subway in Valentine, NE for a late dinner. A girl who, I think, was from Nebraska got really excited that so many college-age people were in the store at the same time. She told us that she and a few of the other guys eating there were in a band and were playing that night just a few blocks away and that we should come. She asked what we were up to and we told her we were storm chasers. Her friend looked at one of our guys' shirts and said, "Duh his shirt says Ball State Storm Chaser." Her response was priceless: "Oh, I thought that was just a metaphor!" That was pretty entertaining to hear!
Unfortunately, the weather pattern is still looking pretty horrible for chasing right now. That Hudson Low set up in eastern Canada that's really causing this ridge over the Great Plains to stay in place for awhile. Once the Hudson Low sets up, it'll be awhile before it packs up and heads off. The only chances of storms would be to find a few shortwave trough patterns set up that we can also possibly tap into the jet stream to get some uplift. Unfortuantely, any kind of wind shear we can manage to find to create the rotation needed is laughable at even considering it to produce as much as a dust devil. Hopefully we only have to waste just a few days before seeing the spectacular shows that this area has to offer! Even lightning would be GREATLY appreciated at this point. Hope for the best!
Goodnight!
Today, we didn't see as many amazing sites as yesterday but we hit up Sioux City, IA for lunch after leaving our hotel in Waverly, IA. If you thought Indiana was horrible to drive in, try Iowa!! There is absolutely nothing to see but fields from miles aorund with a lot of random cattle behind some fences. We woke up to a rainy day and didn't really see much other weather the entire day.
We had our first thought of a chase with some small cells popping up in southern Nebraska that we decided to go after. It was actually a little funny because we were checking out the radar's and upper-level maps to figure out what was going on in southern Nebraska and right when we decided not to mess with it and everyone started talking. Dr. Call shockingly said, "There's been a tornado warning!" and everyone instantly yanked their heads back to the computer in surprise. There was no indications that these cells could produce any sort of reasonable tornado with the lack of wind shear, strong heating to create energy, and any strong convection within the storm. However, there did seem to pop up some SMALL amount of rotation right were the tornado dropped right when it did...thus non-predictable from our standpoint.
We didn't want to chase a warning but we did see some reason to try to hit up a few cells developing from that small batch of storms so we decided to head that way. Unfortunately, there was a large mass of clouds that hung over mid to northern Nebraska that caused for very little daytime heating at the surface, thus cutting off any source of energy to feed or even sustain any type of storm worth chasing. We realized that the cell we were going after was quickly fading heading into this much cooler and dry air, basically choking the storm, so we decided to hit up another cell that seemed promising near Hastings, NE. Hastings had much warmer temps with a temperature around 81 degrees compared to the 54 degree temps in our original point of interest. After realizing that we were chasing basically nothing, we decided to cut our losses and start heading back north in South Dakota to put ourselves into position for tomorrow.
We came into the Central Daylight Time zone last night and were in it for all of today and tomorrow we'll be traveling into the Mountain Daylight Time zone; we're actually only a few miles away from the crossover line.
One funny story from today was when we stopped at a Subway in Valentine, NE for a late dinner. A girl who, I think, was from Nebraska got really excited that so many college-age people were in the store at the same time. She told us that she and a few of the other guys eating there were in a band and were playing that night just a few blocks away and that we should come. She asked what we were up to and we told her we were storm chasers. Her friend looked at one of our guys' shirts and said, "Duh his shirt says Ball State Storm Chaser." Her response was priceless: "Oh, I thought that was just a metaphor!" That was pretty entertaining to hear!
Unfortunately, the weather pattern is still looking pretty horrible for chasing right now. That Hudson Low set up in eastern Canada that's really causing this ridge over the Great Plains to stay in place for awhile. Once the Hudson Low sets up, it'll be awhile before it packs up and heads off. The only chances of storms would be to find a few shortwave trough patterns set up that we can also possibly tap into the jet stream to get some uplift. Unfortuantely, any kind of wind shear we can manage to find to create the rotation needed is laughable at even considering it to produce as much as a dust devil. Hopefully we only have to waste just a few days before seeing the spectacular shows that this area has to offer! Even lightning would be GREATLY appreciated at this point. Hope for the best!
Goodnight!
May 22, 2009
Day 1 of the Great Storm Chase!
Wow! It's been such a long day of driving (about 9 hours) and we've set up for the night in Waverly, IA (about 70 miles or so northeast of Des Moines). I was still pretty aprehensive when we first started out and our drive seemed to be dragging on and on for awhile. We took a short lunch break at Subway in Crawfordsville, IN and then drove straight until a little east of Peoria, IL where we got out to stretch, use the bathroom, and throw the frisbee and football around for a few minutes.
Our next stop wouldn't be for awhile until we got to Walcott, IA where we stopped at the world's largest truck stop! It truly was a sight of beauty and it was massive! We went in for a little while and looked all of the hilarious bumper stickers and all that.
Our next stop was in Iowa City, IA where we stopped for dinner at a local pizza restaraunt called...get this...Bob's Your Uncle. We thought it was the only option for us to eat, of course! We couldn't pass up the opportunity to eat at such a great place that also had a dinosaur right outside of the gas station next door!
We're now resting up for the night for our next 10-hour day of driving! We're looking to head into Rapid City, SD and will likely hit up Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands on Sunday. We decided to make the most of the sights on this trip for right now because the weather patterns are horrible for chasing!
I'm partnering with another one of the 10 students to lead our 2nd day weather discussion tomorrow about what the weather will be doing on Sunday--likely nothing! There's a huge ridge over the west with a high pressure system right behind (clear skies) and not really a single storm of any worth in the whole country! There is a little action in Florida but we obviously can't chase there. There was a few popup nothing storms in northeastern Colorado and also in northeastern Nebraska today but nothing of worth to us either.
There's a stationary front that's chillin along that ridge in the west which doesn't bode well for the next few days as far as any type of weather. We're going to "waste" a few days in South Dakota and hope that the weather patterns start to work out the kinks to give us some chaseable storms. Let's hope for the best!
Good night!
Our next stop wouldn't be for awhile until we got to Walcott, IA where we stopped at the world's largest truck stop! It truly was a sight of beauty and it was massive! We went in for a little while and looked all of the hilarious bumper stickers and all that.
Our next stop was in Iowa City, IA where we stopped for dinner at a local pizza restaraunt called...get this...Bob's Your Uncle. We thought it was the only option for us to eat, of course! We couldn't pass up the opportunity to eat at such a great place that also had a dinosaur right outside of the gas station next door!
We're now resting up for the night for our next 10-hour day of driving! We're looking to head into Rapid City, SD and will likely hit up Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands on Sunday. We decided to make the most of the sights on this trip for right now because the weather patterns are horrible for chasing!
I'm partnering with another one of the 10 students to lead our 2nd day weather discussion tomorrow about what the weather will be doing on Sunday--likely nothing! There's a huge ridge over the west with a high pressure system right behind (clear skies) and not really a single storm of any worth in the whole country! There is a little action in Florida but we obviously can't chase there. There was a few popup nothing storms in northeastern Colorado and also in northeastern Nebraska today but nothing of worth to us either.
There's a stationary front that's chillin along that ridge in the west which doesn't bode well for the next few days as far as any type of weather. We're going to "waste" a few days in South Dakota and hope that the weather patterns start to work out the kinks to give us some chaseable storms. Let's hope for the best!
Good night!
May 17, 2009
Hyp, Hyp-hop, Hypocrosy?
I recently read a blog by my friend Kaitlyn about apparent hypocrosy surrounding the modesty deal with Christian girls. While I won't go into modesty and the importance of this topic, I do want to go into hypocrosy in today's church and today's society.
If we live one way with Christians and another around non-Christians, what are we proclaiming? If we say it's not good to steal and we go and borrow a CD and never return it, what are we proclaiming? If we say it's great to encourage each other and go and slander someone or use profanity, what are we proclaiming? If we say it isn't good to lust and then we watch innaprop movies or shows that have strong innuendo, what are we proclaiming? PROCLAIM THE NAME!
One thing that always gets me whenever I find myself questioning my motives and whether or not I'm for some reason being hypocritical, is the first line of the DC Talk's Christian song, "What if I Stumble." It says, "The single greatest cause for atheism today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and and deny Him by their lifestyle. That's what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
I know this hits home to pretty much any and every Christian who listens to this song but I think it gets written off as just another nice thought--like the old cliche sayings always do. This, friends, is NOT just another nice thought or good thing to think about. This is for real!
Newsflash: We are in a spiritual battle of God vs. Satan! Period. --ironic I know ;)
How can we as Christians, soldiers for God's end, say all of the "Christanese" and not live the Christian keys? Wake up brothers and sisters, Satan is alive and well and he will most definitely use all your mistakes against you. If we aren't advertising for Christ then we're advertising for Satan--there's only two sides to this war.
Now, don't let this scare the poo out of you by thinking that you have to be perfect or everyone dies. That's just pure foolishness. Sometimes, however, I do get caught up in this thought process that I need to be perfect or someone's gonna see that discrepency between my talk and my walk but that's why there's the rest of this song, you see. That's why there's grace!
DC Talk goes on to ask what happens if they stumble or fall when they're doing the Christian walk (the lyrics and song are great if you wanna check them out!). The song talks about all of their fears about needing to lead by example and how hard that is when non-Believers scrutinize our faith to measure how worthy God is of their time and love. The end of the song sums it with truth when it says, "I hear you whispering my name, you say, my love for you will never change."
God knows when you stumble, He knows when you fall. He knew all of this before you ever even began to walk on this earth--or as my dad would say, God says, "I knew this since before you were born!" This should be even more encouraging!! God knew that you weren't perfect at birth, when you became a Christian, when you live the Christian life but you know what, this didn't stop Him for one second from dying for your very life. He knew your weaknesses, your failures, your faults and yet this one Holy and Perfect God of all things great and small died for YOU!
This blows my mind and it scares the bejeebers out of me to think that my own selfish will and hypocrosy can and sometimes will stop a person from wanting to experience this same exact love. I know that I can't be perfect and God knows that I can't be perfect, but this gives me absolutely no excuse to keep on living for myself and to keep on talking without walking. A baby talks before he walks but at some point he picks himself up and walks until he only stumbles just a few times.
Don't continue to crawl around babbling about our God like He's something to take for granted, stand tall and proclaim the glory of our Risen King and Glorious Father! What do you have to lose? Yourself. AWESOME!!!
If we live one way with Christians and another around non-Christians, what are we proclaiming? If we say it's not good to steal and we go and borrow a CD and never return it, what are we proclaiming? If we say it's great to encourage each other and go and slander someone or use profanity, what are we proclaiming? If we say it isn't good to lust and then we watch innaprop movies or shows that have strong innuendo, what are we proclaiming? PROCLAIM THE NAME!
One thing that always gets me whenever I find myself questioning my motives and whether or not I'm for some reason being hypocritical, is the first line of the DC Talk's Christian song, "What if I Stumble." It says, "The single greatest cause for atheism today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and and deny Him by their lifestyle. That's what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
I know this hits home to pretty much any and every Christian who listens to this song but I think it gets written off as just another nice thought--like the old cliche sayings always do. This, friends, is NOT just another nice thought or good thing to think about. This is for real!
Newsflash: We are in a spiritual battle of God vs. Satan! Period. --ironic I know ;)
How can we as Christians, soldiers for God's end, say all of the "Christanese" and not live the Christian keys? Wake up brothers and sisters, Satan is alive and well and he will most definitely use all your mistakes against you. If we aren't advertising for Christ then we're advertising for Satan--there's only two sides to this war.
Now, don't let this scare the poo out of you by thinking that you have to be perfect or everyone dies. That's just pure foolishness. Sometimes, however, I do get caught up in this thought process that I need to be perfect or someone's gonna see that discrepency between my talk and my walk but that's why there's the rest of this song, you see. That's why there's grace!
DC Talk goes on to ask what happens if they stumble or fall when they're doing the Christian walk (the lyrics and song are great if you wanna check them out!). The song talks about all of their fears about needing to lead by example and how hard that is when non-Believers scrutinize our faith to measure how worthy God is of their time and love. The end of the song sums it with truth when it says, "I hear you whispering my name, you say, my love for you will never change."
God knows when you stumble, He knows when you fall. He knew all of this before you ever even began to walk on this earth--or as my dad would say, God says, "I knew this since before you were born!" This should be even more encouraging!! God knew that you weren't perfect at birth, when you became a Christian, when you live the Christian life but you know what, this didn't stop Him for one second from dying for your very life. He knew your weaknesses, your failures, your faults and yet this one Holy and Perfect God of all things great and small died for YOU!
This blows my mind and it scares the bejeebers out of me to think that my own selfish will and hypocrosy can and sometimes will stop a person from wanting to experience this same exact love. I know that I can't be perfect and God knows that I can't be perfect, but this gives me absolutely no excuse to keep on living for myself and to keep on talking without walking. A baby talks before he walks but at some point he picks himself up and walks until he only stumbles just a few times.
Don't continue to crawl around babbling about our God like He's something to take for granted, stand tall and proclaim the glory of our Risen King and Glorious Father! What do you have to lose? Yourself. AWESOME!!!
May 12, 2009
How Fruity Are You?
So, here I am once again at 4 in the morning because I can't seem to sleep... This thought is actually long overdue though. See, this thought occured to me when I was on spring break in the lovely Hampton, VA visiting my amazing friend Lindsay. We were eating cereal and I can't remember exactly what the name of it was, but it was some kind of strawberry cornflakes or something like that.
Anyways, the back of the box had random facts about fruit. One of them gave the definition of what a fruit is and does. It said something along the lines of "fruit is the fleshy part that surrounds and protects the seed inside." Instantly, strangely enough, this made me think of spiritual fruit.
Christians are called to live by the fruit of the Spirit, to be fruitful in reproduction and good deeds, and to bear "good" fruit. Why is fruit listed SO MANY times in Scripture?
I think it's simple. The Gospel (if you don't know what I'm referring to as the Gospel, check out the first two posts) is referred to as a seed many many times in Scripture. Ahhh, coming together now? We, as Christians, are entrusted....big word, entrusted to God's amazing story of salvation, which is the precious seed.
We, as Christians, are the very fruit that protect that precious seed from being taken away by Satan's clamy hands. Each Christian bears some kind of fruit but the heart of that person determines whether that fruit is good or whether it's bad (Matthew 12:33).
We've all bitten into a soft and maybe somewhat brown apple and it didn't allow much to satisfy you right? It was somewhat easy to get the core of that apple because the fleshy part around it gave way easily. Don't be that brown apple. Fight and protect against that little evil green worm that wants to eat away at you and take your very gift from you.
Friends, we are that very flesh that surround the seed of everlasting life. Adam made the mistake of blending in that nastiness of sin and blemish into our perfect fruit in the beginning so that now we inherently produce bad, weak fruit, but we have a chance to change that. We have been given the opportunity to have our bad tree chopped down so that the new and good one can grow in its place.
One last thing--the purpose for fruit is also to disperse that seed to other areas to reproduce that same type of fruit. We, as the seed-bearers, need to take this job just as seriously as protecting the seed. The seed is what brings life to a desolate area. The seed is what we were created to guard and share. Remember, the amount of seed you have is infinite--don't be greedy.
Anyways, the back of the box had random facts about fruit. One of them gave the definition of what a fruit is and does. It said something along the lines of "fruit is the fleshy part that surrounds and protects the seed inside." Instantly, strangely enough, this made me think of spiritual fruit.
Christians are called to live by the fruit of the Spirit, to be fruitful in reproduction and good deeds, and to bear "good" fruit. Why is fruit listed SO MANY times in Scripture?
I think it's simple. The Gospel (if you don't know what I'm referring to as the Gospel, check out the first two posts) is referred to as a seed many many times in Scripture. Ahhh, coming together now? We, as Christians, are entrusted....big word, entrusted to God's amazing story of salvation, which is the precious seed.
We, as Christians, are the very fruit that protect that precious seed from being taken away by Satan's clamy hands. Each Christian bears some kind of fruit but the heart of that person determines whether that fruit is good or whether it's bad (Matthew 12:33).
We've all bitten into a soft and maybe somewhat brown apple and it didn't allow much to satisfy you right? It was somewhat easy to get the core of that apple because the fleshy part around it gave way easily. Don't be that brown apple. Fight and protect against that little evil green worm that wants to eat away at you and take your very gift from you.
Friends, we are that very flesh that surround the seed of everlasting life. Adam made the mistake of blending in that nastiness of sin and blemish into our perfect fruit in the beginning so that now we inherently produce bad, weak fruit, but we have a chance to change that. We have been given the opportunity to have our bad tree chopped down so that the new and good one can grow in its place.
One last thing--the purpose for fruit is also to disperse that seed to other areas to reproduce that same type of fruit. We, as the seed-bearers, need to take this job just as seriously as protecting the seed. The seed is what brings life to a desolate area. The seed is what we were created to guard and share. Remember, the amount of seed you have is infinite--don't be greedy.
May 11, 2009
Money Money
This past week I've been wondering about people and their relationship with their possessions. What causes us all to cling so desperately to what we have? Why do we lean so heavily on our material crap, really, rather than on what actually matters and even lasts?
What started my pondering was my sister-in-law's tragic fire in which she lost everything she owned. Thankfully, oooh thankfully, she and my two nieces made it out safe and sound....except with nothing but the clothes on her back and about a third of my nieces' stuff that wasn't there. This bothered me so much that this would happen in the midst of EVERYTHING their poor family has been through within a year's time. In all honesty, I was pretty ticked at God.
Why? What the heck is the purpose of this fire?
Yeah, I know there's a lot of answers to that question but none of them seemed to fit this circumstance. I didn't see how it could all fit. I desperately searched and seeked for God's purpose in allowing this to happen and I begged Him to at least show me a glimpse or let me in on His "little secret." Then He did the unthinkable...just a few minutes after begging and pleading and seeking, I turned my computer on and saw my little verse of the day: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:19-21).
This made me a little more mad I have to admit but tears literally fell harder and harder after each word that I read. I balled for at least a good 5 minutes. I've heard this verse so many times before but this seemed like a smack in the face to me at this moment. At the same time that this made me a little more mad, it also gave me hope that God actually did have a plan and a purpose for a restoration.
I've collected things so many times before for the homeless, the hungry, the needy...everytime it was for strangers. Now it was personal. Now my family was homeless, hungry, needy. I've never been so humbled than if it was my very self in desperate need without a thing.
The pain ran deep and collecting things from myself and from others opened up doors for me to see the inner-workings of how giving and selflessness actually and truly comes into play. I found myself frustrated by the lack of help and support. I found myself extremely excited and joyful when people who I even least expected pulled through big time. I felt sorrow for not being able to give more....or could I? Can I?
After being taught this whole week what it means to have nothing and to have to rebuild with just the help of others and your desire to survive, I learned that we are all so flipping greedy! I felt selfish without even doing anything that was intentionally selfish. I looked around at my possessions that I had in my dorm room and as a college student I was in a lot better shape than SO MANY people who are well beyond my years. I'm not rich by any means but truly I am. I get mad when I don't get that shirt I want, when my car sounds like death, when I don't have a bunch of money to blow on whatever. At least I have a plethora of clothing to choose my outfits every day, at least I have a car, at least I have some money. How did I become such a greedy brat?
Giving boxes of food to those who needed it just outside the campus walls, so to speak, with SHINE was the tip of the iceburg. Hearing people's stories of how they truly wanted and have fought to make it in the world, I learned just how rich I am. I didn't have to worry about how to feed my kids, let alone myself. I didn't have to worry about not having a car to visit my mom in prison just once since she's been there in 2 years. I didn't have to worry about not getting evicted every month when I couldn't afford the bill. How did I become so greedy?
Comfort. Comfort is my enemy. I get caught up in my own little bubble of wanting to impress others or wanting to be more comfortable than I already am. Once that bubble is popped I see my possessions as they are...fragile and frail peices of crap that don't mean a thing. Bugs will eat your house away, water will rust your car away, theives will steal your money away, fires will burn anything away. In any case, we lose it. If not in our lifetime, in losing our life. I've never seen a dead person grab their pimped out car as they were buried.
Why do we get so attached to these little things that don't mean a thing to us in actuality? Why do we let those urges and desires grow into something that controls us? I don't want more than I need anymore. Honestly, I do but I hate it with all my being. I feel dirty when I'm dressed in expensive fancy clothes and walk by someone who's barely even making it living on the streets.
This must be what Paul talks about when he says:
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with he law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:14-25)
The wording is kind of confusing but read it slowly and truly contemplate what he's trying to get across. There is an inward battle of sin vs. righteousness and our flesh (of this world) strongly desires the sin. Our souls long to be made right with God (righteousness) but our flesh gets in the way because this world still has such a grip on us. We want to do what is right but our desires to satisfy our flesh are so strong and we're used to giving into those desires before walking with God that we end up giving into those desires anyways.
I'm tired of being greedy. I'm tired of wanting more. I don't want anymore crap, I want what lasts. I want to store up treasures that last in heaven. I want to give like there's no tomorrow. I want to be stripped of my comfort and I want to intentionally and selflessly love by giving what often means the most to me--my possessions.
After all, isn't everything we have just kind of loaned to us anyways? What did we every bring into this world at birth? Every seen a baby come out with Blackberry?
What started my pondering was my sister-in-law's tragic fire in which she lost everything she owned. Thankfully, oooh thankfully, she and my two nieces made it out safe and sound....except with nothing but the clothes on her back and about a third of my nieces' stuff that wasn't there. This bothered me so much that this would happen in the midst of EVERYTHING their poor family has been through within a year's time. In all honesty, I was pretty ticked at God.
Why? What the heck is the purpose of this fire?
Yeah, I know there's a lot of answers to that question but none of them seemed to fit this circumstance. I didn't see how it could all fit. I desperately searched and seeked for God's purpose in allowing this to happen and I begged Him to at least show me a glimpse or let me in on His "little secret." Then He did the unthinkable...just a few minutes after begging and pleading and seeking, I turned my computer on and saw my little verse of the day: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:19-21).
This made me a little more mad I have to admit but tears literally fell harder and harder after each word that I read. I balled for at least a good 5 minutes. I've heard this verse so many times before but this seemed like a smack in the face to me at this moment. At the same time that this made me a little more mad, it also gave me hope that God actually did have a plan and a purpose for a restoration.
I've collected things so many times before for the homeless, the hungry, the needy...everytime it was for strangers. Now it was personal. Now my family was homeless, hungry, needy. I've never been so humbled than if it was my very self in desperate need without a thing.
The pain ran deep and collecting things from myself and from others opened up doors for me to see the inner-workings of how giving and selflessness actually and truly comes into play. I found myself frustrated by the lack of help and support. I found myself extremely excited and joyful when people who I even least expected pulled through big time. I felt sorrow for not being able to give more....or could I? Can I?
After being taught this whole week what it means to have nothing and to have to rebuild with just the help of others and your desire to survive, I learned that we are all so flipping greedy! I felt selfish without even doing anything that was intentionally selfish. I looked around at my possessions that I had in my dorm room and as a college student I was in a lot better shape than SO MANY people who are well beyond my years. I'm not rich by any means but truly I am. I get mad when I don't get that shirt I want, when my car sounds like death, when I don't have a bunch of money to blow on whatever. At least I have a plethora of clothing to choose my outfits every day, at least I have a car, at least I have some money. How did I become such a greedy brat?
Giving boxes of food to those who needed it just outside the campus walls, so to speak, with SHINE was the tip of the iceburg. Hearing people's stories of how they truly wanted and have fought to make it in the world, I learned just how rich I am. I didn't have to worry about how to feed my kids, let alone myself. I didn't have to worry about not having a car to visit my mom in prison just once since she's been there in 2 years. I didn't have to worry about not getting evicted every month when I couldn't afford the bill. How did I become so greedy?
Comfort. Comfort is my enemy. I get caught up in my own little bubble of wanting to impress others or wanting to be more comfortable than I already am. Once that bubble is popped I see my possessions as they are...fragile and frail peices of crap that don't mean a thing. Bugs will eat your house away, water will rust your car away, theives will steal your money away, fires will burn anything away. In any case, we lose it. If not in our lifetime, in losing our life. I've never seen a dead person grab their pimped out car as they were buried.
Why do we get so attached to these little things that don't mean a thing to us in actuality? Why do we let those urges and desires grow into something that controls us? I don't want more than I need anymore. Honestly, I do but I hate it with all my being. I feel dirty when I'm dressed in expensive fancy clothes and walk by someone who's barely even making it living on the streets.
This must be what Paul talks about when he says:
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with he law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:14-25)
The wording is kind of confusing but read it slowly and truly contemplate what he's trying to get across. There is an inward battle of sin vs. righteousness and our flesh (of this world) strongly desires the sin. Our souls long to be made right with God (righteousness) but our flesh gets in the way because this world still has such a grip on us. We want to do what is right but our desires to satisfy our flesh are so strong and we're used to giving into those desires before walking with God that we end up giving into those desires anyways.
I'm tired of being greedy. I'm tired of wanting more. I don't want anymore crap, I want what lasts. I want to store up treasures that last in heaven. I want to give like there's no tomorrow. I want to be stripped of my comfort and I want to intentionally and selflessly love by giving what often means the most to me--my possessions.
After all, isn't everything we have just kind of loaned to us anyways? What did we every bring into this world at birth? Every seen a baby come out with Blackberry?
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