{"id":5534,"date":"2026-06-25T08:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T12:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5534"},"modified":"2026-06-25T08:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T12:31:12","slug":"appropriate-fear-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/appropriate-fear-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Appropriate Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast<\/em>,\u00a0click here<\/a>

Last week, Mary Sue and I finally got around to having The Talk.

Midwesterners know that at some point they need to sit down and have a serious conversation about where they will take shelter in the event of an approaching tornado.

My wife and I have lived on our current property for the last year and a half \u2013 a central Indiana farm that looks as if it could have provided stock footage for the movie Twister<\/em> or one of its cinematic imitators. Until a few days ago, we hadn\u2019t resolved whether we would head for our crawlspace or an interior first-floor room, and what \u201cmust-haves\u201d we would try to grab along the way.

These issues have taken on greater significance this June \u2013 a month in which storm fronts appear to be using our state for target practice.

Indiana typically welcomes 22 funnels a year. At the beginning of this month, there had been eight confirmed Hoosier tornadoes in 2026. Since then, weather forecasts have been considerably more exciting. Our state has now registered a whopping 70 tornadoes, and we\u2019re still in the thick of the cyclonic season.

Yesterday the Chicago Tribune<\/em> reported that our neighbor state of Illinois has experienced 147 tornadoes this year \u2013 a most unwelcome all-time record.

How do these storms originate?

Masses of warm air coming up from the Gulf of Mexico routinely collide with cold fronts sweeping down from the Rockies.\u00a0The result, especially in the Great Plains states of Kansas and Oklahoma, are storms that can literally pack more punch than nuclear weapons.\u00a0

Tornadoes aren\u2019t just destructive.\u00a0They\u2019re unpredictable.

Hurricanes, which are immensely larger, can be anticipated days in advance.\u00a0Satellites and ever-improving ground-based technologies have helped meteorologists pinpoint when and where ocean-going storms will make landfall, and how high the storm surge is likely to be.\u00a0

Tornadoes are different.\u00a0The National Weather Service may have a general sense that a particular day might produce a cyclonic outbreak.\u00a0But no one has yet been able to specifically predict where a dangerous storm might strike, and whether it will produce one small funnel or a dozen gigantic ones.\u00a0

Thus Mary Sue and I find ourselves gazing at flat screens that single out our county with dramatic colors, watch boxes, and warnings like \u201cEnhanced Risk of Severe Storms.\u201d

Clint Eastwood\u2019s words from Dirty Harry<\/em> come to mind. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”

As Michael Lewis points out in his book The Coming Storm<\/em>, millions of people who live and work in America\u2019s tornadic \u201cstrike zone\u201d apparently feel very lucky indeed. That\u2019s because they have concluded that the next killer twister will probably hit somebody else\u2019s house.\u00a0

Oklahomans, in particular, say they feel secure for a number of head-scratching reasons.\u00a0

Some people claim that tornadoes always follow highways \u2013 and they\u2019re in good shape because they don’t live near a highway.\u00a0Others feel confident because tornadoes have never struck their local Indian burial grounds.\u00a0Still others point out that funnels seem to dissipate before crossing a particular river.\u00a0Those on the east side of large communities feel better than those who live on the west side because twisters usually come from the west.\u00a0East-siders assume they will be protected by tall downtown buildings.

Meteorologists are quick to point out that tornadoes aren\u2019t remotely fazed by interstates, cemeteries, or skyscrapers.

When it comes to rapid cloud rotation, the real action is determined by conditions in the atmosphere, not by realities on the ground.\u00a0

What\u2019s the most urgent need for living in a tornado-prone part of the world at this time of year?\u00a0It\u2019s not terror or paralysis, but an appropriate fear<\/em> \u2013 a deep-seated respect for weather service warnings that will lead people to make wise choices that may well save their lives.\u00a0

The same thing is true when it comes to our spiritual well-being.\u00a0\u00a0

We know, for instance, that we\u2019re all going to die. Barring the imminent return of Christ, there\u2019s no chance that any of us is going to get out of this place alive.\u00a0 \u00a0

We know that\u2019s a true statement.\u00a0And we regularly receive reminders that it\u2019s true \u2013 sometimes even dramatic \u201cwarning sirens.\u201d\u00a0But mostly we live as if death is something that will happen to other people, but not to us.\u00a0At least not today.\u00a0

Since each of our lives has an expiration date, and one day we will have to give an account of ourselves to God, what\u2019s the need of the hour?

The Bible\u2019s answer may surprise you.\u00a0It\u2019s fear \u2013 an appropriate fear<\/em> \u2013 a deep-seated respect for God that will lead us to make wise decisions concerning the conduct of our lives.\u00a0\u201cThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom\u201d (Proverbs 9:10).

It\u2019s amazing that Scripture never once tells us to fear the devil.\u00a0We are not to fear evil.\u00a0There is no need to fear death.\u00a0Jesus tells us not to be afraid of people who are seriously intent on harming us. (Matthew 10:26-31).

But spiritual health is all about cultivating an appropriate fear of God.\u00a0That\u2019s not to be confused with spiritual paralysis or a sense of servile terror.\u00a0\u201cFearing God\u201d means choosing to take God seriously \u2013 embracing with joy his promises of mercy and grace, even while heeding his warnings when we’re tempted to succumb to disastrous choices.\u00a0

To paraphrase Augustine, the church’s first great theologian, life really comes down to just two choices:\u00a0We can either fear God or fear everything else<\/em>.\u00a0

That\u2019s a wonderful thing to remember on sunny days.

Not to mention when storm clouds are gathering on the horizon.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Last week, Mary Sue and I finally got around to having The Talk. Midwesterners know that at some point they need to sit down and have a serious conversation about where they will take shelter in the event of an approaching tornado. My wife and I have lived on our current… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[242,1134],"class_list":["post-5534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fear-of-the-lord","tag-tornadoes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5536,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5534\/revisions\/5536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}