Last night we had a terrible storm. Actually Saturday night there was a terrible storm too, with some of the worst lightning I have seen in a while. I'm typically okay with storms. In fact I remember one of the first things to draw me to KQ while in Winona was Howard Joseph and his tornado chasing team. We never did get any storms big enough to chase mostly because the lacrosse wi area is known to be a region that tornados just tend to hop over but man it would have been cool to chase a storm a-la the movie twister.

Oma Mt. Prospect was terrified of storms. I remember vaguely driving with her and Opa, mom, dad and the brothers through to florida and we drove straight through a hurricaine. She was terrified. When you are little you expect the adults to do the comforting however there we were trying to assure Oma that everything would be okay.

Last night I was scared. I went around and turned off every electrical thing in the house (for the probable irrational idea that I didn't want to attract the lightning to strike through the roof of my apartment.) Instead of getting into some real clothes (instead of my pjs) and heading down to the first floor at the next bolt of lightning, I pounced into bed, pulled the covers over my head and said a prayer that God just move the storm by without causing any harm. For about three seconds too I worried about my car parked outside...would the hail come and possibly destroy the worthless rusttrap I drive? For the sake of my pocketbook (which is pretty bare right now) I hoisted up a "no-hail mary full of grace prayer" too for good measure.

Why does pulling to covers over your head feel so much more comforting? Particular when you are alone and scared? I know it's so completely silly for a 37 year old to be still doing these things. I don't like walking in the dark either. The few nights I stayed late at church or work and was the last person there and the lights were off I practically ran to my car. It's stupid because of course I'm alone a lot.

We have to face our fear - where's the challenge otherwise?

I admit I don't really like talking to people. Probably going to be a HUGE hurdle for this new heart tugging mission I'm entering however I think we all approach relating to people differently. I admit that there's something that I'm tossing around trying to figure out . . .

I'm conflicted by the invitation "make a decision to follow Christ" sorts of conversations with strangers - even if they are the ones given the choice to make the declaration and it's totally voluntary.

I have grave respect for this sort of conversation, but maybe more with people I get to know?

Why would you select a stranger to profess a commitment to Christ rather than work through that conversation with someone with whom you had a relationship? Maybe I'm just not being bold enough or have seen conversions in people to understand this. Do you have to make a public declaration or is it okay to just go to God and declare or redeclare your faith? I know there's a bible verse that says to go to someone...I think...right?

How do you balance the conversation and just let God move the question from the person when they invite it rather than taking a person you just met and tossing it at them? People say they "sense" this ...but why do they sense the conversation needs to happen and I'm just happily thinking about going to the mall with the person?

Is my head under the covers on this topic as well? I don't think so, I think we can all have different approaches....God's doing the work anyhow ....right?