The Dave Show Episode #267 - 2nd round of tornados roll through StL!

Okay so today I wanted to share a few thoughts with you about an adventure that we've had today and correlate it to an adventure that St. Louis had in May. Not that it's an adventure and it's probably something that shouldn't necessarily be an adventure. It's a terrible experience. You know we had tornadoes or a tornado come through in May here in St. Louis. It didn't cause us any damage or harm except for maybe a few smaller branches down from our trees. It was just windy up where we live in Forestdale. But down in University City and some other areas in St. Louis City there was quite a bit of damage. Some houses totally destroyed ripped off their foundations and things just damaged a whole lot. And interestingly enough the tornado sirens last month in May just two or three weeks ago did not go off. Meaning they were not activated. And as I've studied and read you know some of the responses some of the articles and discussion about what happened. The emergency management director was apparently away from her post. And I don't know all the details and I don't want to cast aspersions or blame. But it sounds like the director that would normally push the button or turn on the tornado sirens was not at the location where she could do that for whatever reason. And the fire department who has a backup alarm system, siren warning system, that system had not been repaired. It was not functioning at the time. And so it was a double failure. Now we ask ourselves you know had one or both of those systems been functioning you know would that have allowed more warning because there was no warning aside from the news and such. Would that have allowed sufficient warning for you know any lives to be saved and potentially less damage to have happened. That's the question I don't know. I don't have an answer to that. But what's interesting is the situation that we had today I think was an over knee-jerk reaction with the siren going off once for about 15 minutes and then having a little bit of a break and then going off again for about five minutes. And so what's happened I believe is St. Louis and this is this is common for for us if we under react once the next time we we may not that we'll overreact but we may be more sensitive to a given situation because of a previous injury or previous bad experience. So now I think it's possible and again I don't know all the details it's possible that now we're being a little bit more reactionary when things come along that could have the potential to cause damage as the storm did in this past you know two three weeks. So why do we bring that up? I wanted to share a few thoughts about it because I feel like it's important that we put fail-safes in place and that we're aware we should be when we should be there and when the storm clouds arise and when it looks like the forecast may call for something sinister or something damaging or something life-threatening or something terrible that we are in the place where we should be to protect ourselves and also if we're in a position of leadership or responsibility that we are also in a place or in the place that we can affect the most protection and support and be of the most use in the time of need. And again I want to be very cautious I don't know all the details with what happened and how it happened why it happened but neither one of those systems that were previously in place were able to be employed when they were needed at least for a warning. And so for us we have to make sure our systems are in place we have to make sure that we are looking at the forecast if you will whether it's just weather forecast or the potential for difficulties challenges issues concerns temptations you know other hardships that come along in our lives we have to be looking ahead and trying to be circumspect to consider if we need to to take a different posture. Kieran when he was in town here a couple of months ago talks about being in hunker down position you know prepared for the worst and sometimes we have to get in that position ahead of time other times we just need to step out of the way of some sort of a you know a difficulty that's coming so we have to be doing our best to forecast what's ahead of us and looking at that forecast being circumspect looking ahead trying to anticipate issues and challenges you know reasonably so not that we want to be hidden away in a basement 24-7 or out in a nuclear bomb-proof bunker our entire lives we have to live and we have to interact with others and there is always risk no matter what we do and when we do it you know right now i'm driving home on highway 64 doing my best not to be distracted with my phone so there's risk there but we have to put our appropriate warnings and alarms in place the systems in place that give us appropriate warnings and alarms be attentive to them and then when the time comes if we're in a position of trust or leadership or responsibility we've got to do our best to be where we need to be when we need to be there because lives are at stake you know whether it's actual life of injury or from storm or from whatever it is safety or tree falling or something or whether it's a spiritual or mental or emotional injury because of something that we didn't do or something that we did do because we weren't paying attention weren't heeding the warnings so that's my thought for you today uh out there in youtube instagram facebook land social media world is we've got to put ourselves in a place where we're prepared we're anticipating what's ahead of us we have procedures and processes in place we're heeding warnings we're paying attention we don't have our head in the sand not totally engaged in doing something that distracts us entirely from those things that are most important and above and beyond that that we are doing what we should be when we should be doing it and that just requires doing your best to be circumspect is the word i've used i think that's the third to watch around us you know when i teach my kids to drive i've taught four kids three daughters so far and one more daughter to teach to drive my favorite thing to say to them is you can't prevent all accidents but almost all accidents can be prevented by being aware of what's happening correct almost all accidents almost so the more we are aware of what's happening around us the more we can prevent ourselves from falling into a situation that you know is damaging or hurtful in addition to that the more we can be where we need to be to help and support other people the better off we and they will be as a result of our being prepared so thanks again for tuning in and watching hopefully this has been helpful uplifting and encouraging the good news is we can do this you know and with some support and help and the encouragement of the spirit and our savior jesus christ there is nothing that we can't accomplish and with our hearts in the right place our feet moving forward down the right pathways and our hands helping others i think we can do so much that will bring us personal fulfillment and bless the lives of other people thanks so much