Although tornadoes occur in many parts of the world, they are most common in the United States, and where I live, they are very much a part of our lives during tornado season, which runs from March through May each year. These storms can pack winds of up to 300 miles per hour and can be a mile wide. My professional life as a city administrator included working with other emergency responders to warn people about approaching tornadoes, and ensuring that shelters and other emergency services are available. 

Personally, I include one other emergency “service” in my toolkit, namely prayer to understand God’s presence, even in the midst of the storm. This doesn’t mean I believe I can control the storms, but I do claim in prayer that God’s harmony can prevail, and the destructive weather doesn’t come from God. Also, while tornadoes tend to be erratic, and may strike one town but skip another, prayer can reduce fear and help reveal orderly steps that can be taken for public safety. 

I’ve learned over many years to trust in God’s divine power to protect me and the areas for which I’m responsible. Let me give you some examples.

Tornado-producing clouds were around the small town in northwestern Kansas where I was serving as city administrator. My immediate responsibilities were to support storm-spotting firefighters and sheriff’s deputies by remaining at City Hall, monitoring storm updates on the computer, and sounding the tornado warning siren. I would then head to the storm shelter in a nearby church. 

Before leaving for the storm shelter, I asked my sister, who lives out of town, to call a Christian Science practitioner to support my prayers for our community. I humbly asked our heavenly Father for a statement of spiritual truth, and held my thought to the simple angel message that “there are no tornadoes in God’s kingdom.” I knew God is good, and His creation is good, so it can’t include any destructive forces. Since God is omnipotent, ever present, and fills all space, any force that is unlike good has no presence or power.

When the all-clear siren sounded, I drove through the town, found no damage, and learned that the large tornado that had formed and lowered near the downtown area, had dissolved back into the clouds.

The next day, we gathered additional shelter supplies and distributed shelter information to stores near the interstate highway and throughout town for travelers and residents. As these tasks neared completion, I was called back to City Hall with instructions to be prepared to sound the siren. 

As I waited, praying, I opened the back door and could clearly see a tornado heading directly toward the hospital, houses, and City Hall. I silently but firmly declared, “Thus far and no farther.” I was affirming, in my own thought, that God’s love could protect me and the people of this city from danger. 

In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy wrote of the power of God, Mind, over His creation. At one point she stated: “Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and support the equipoise of that thought-force, which launched the earth in its orbit and said to the proud wave, ‘Thus far and no farther’ ” (p. 124). After this prayer, I closed the door, sounded the siren, and headed for the shelter. 

Soon the “all-clear” sounded, and those of us in the shelter were free to leave. The tornado had come to the edge of town, risen up, crossed over the town, and come back down in the countryside. Before I could leave the shelter, however, the sirens sounded again. 

The town was bracing for a direct hit from an EF-4 wedge tornado two miles away. (According to the Enhanced Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale, such tornadoes are capable of devastating damage as their winds range between 207 and 260 miles per hour.) 

As we huddled in a basement closet, within earshot of the radio, I smiled to myself at the appropriateness of being in a closet. From a human standpoint, it was a safe place, but I was really thinking of this statement in Science and Health: “In order to pray aright, we must enter into the closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses. In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must deny sin and plead God’s allness” (p. 15). That statement certainly informed my silent prayers.

This phrase, “There is no vapid fury of mortal mind,” also came to thought, and I turned to page 293 in the copy of Science and Health I had brought with me. I read the entire paragraph, which speaks of God’s permanence and strength. 

As I continued praying, I heard the radio announcer comment about a very turbulent atmosphere. The first stanza of a hymn immediately came to thought: 

In atmosphere of Love divine,
We live, and move, and breathe;
Though mortal eyes may see it not,
’Tis sense that would deceive.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 144)

These ideas made it peacefully clear to me that the atmosphere of Love was the only true atmosphere, filled all space, and included no turbulence or destructive forces. We soon learned that the tornado had veered west before reaching the town, lifted up as it crossed the highway, and weakened as it continued through the countryside. 

Two days later, I was notified about tornado activity south of town. Again, I called a Christian Science practitioner for prayerful support and to discuss some fresh ideas to work with. One of the thoughts shared by the practitioner was that God is not in the earthquake, wind, fire—or tornado—anywhere, anytime. This awakened me to my responsibility to pray for other communities (as others outside our area prayed along with us) whenever I became aware of destructive weather regardless of where it was. The storm remained south of town and dissipated.

Many people publicly acknowledged that prayer and God’s blessings saved lives and protected the city from damage. I was not alone in praying for the community. Residents regularly turned to prayer, instead of worrying, when faced with personal and community challenges or to support friends and neighbors. They expected their prayers to be effective and shared their gratitude for prayerful support in the local newspaper. Protection from tornadoes was thought of as a blessing, not luck.

Midweek, while eating at a local restaurant and listening to residents and farmers discuss recent events, however, I saw the importance of continuing to turn one’s thoughts away from the material picture of destructive storms and toward God’s harmonious presence. Sometimes even the memory of how powerful a storm was can have a mesmerizing effect. To be impressed by discord of any kind is, in some sense, to deny the power of God and the harmony He is always providing to us. 

Whether we face it in our own experience or as a community, discord is never part of our true identity as God’s creation. Our economic well-being, growth, and progress stem from the good we express and from God’s inexhaustible resources. Instead of being “storm chasers”—enthralled by the power of a tornado and its appearance—we can choose to be “storm spotters”—those who are alert to danger, give warning, and help others.

By turning to immediate and persistent prayer, each of us can contribute to community safety no matter where we are or who we are. When destructive events are forecast, our conviction that prayer is effective and that God is in control at all times will help alleviate fear and support all who are working to keep us, our friends, and our neighbors safe.