Supercell

According to a National Weather Service report, a supercell thunderstorm spawned a tornado near the town of Tyler in Clearfield County on Sunday afternoon (8/9/2009). I was blessed to get a good glimpse of the storm without being near enough for trouble. Here's my picture:

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I admit, this is a rather poor image. Light conditions were not very good, although it was only partly cloudy in Curwensville when I took it. The wedge shape in the sky on the left is pale blue sky. But the image is good enough to explain a few things about the storm.

To the right is the body of the storm, called a supercell thunderstorm. Any thunderstorm is caused by warm, moist air rising high into the atmosphere because of heating. As it rises, the water vapor in the air condenses and becomes clouds and rain. Sometimes the wind and rising forces are very strong, causing a strong swirling vortex to form in the middle of the storm. These storms are called supercells.

In this photo, you can see the main channel of air on the right half of the sky. These clouds are made of water that is condensing around the vortex. The friction and forces in here made a great deal of lightning. At the top of the picture, you can see what is called the "anvil" of the storm. This is where the uplifted air gets so high that it enters a cold thin part of the atmosphere where strong winds blow it out in all directions. This is somewhere between 35,000 and 50,000 feet.

Now here is the radar image from the National Center for Atmospheric Research:

This picture shows conditions about the time of the tornado. The tornado occurred in the red part directly above the letters FIG, which is Clearfield-Lawrence Airport. The storm front came through Pennsylvania from the northwest. As it approached Clearfield County, the storms were aligned along a single front, almost a straight line. You can see part of the line in the upper right-hand corner of the photo.

Notice how the portion of the storm that spawned the tornado has fallen behind the main line. If you are familiar with the geography, you will notice that it has stalled over Bennett's Valley between Weedville and Penfield along State Route 255. This is a very deep valley with Boone Mountain on the northwest and Penfield Mountain to the southeast. Apparently when the storm came directly across the valley, the face of Penfield Mountain caused the storm to stall and the winds to start spinning up to a great elevation, which eventually led to the tornado.

This is not the first time that Penfield Mountain has caused Parker Dam State Park to suffer tornadoes. The same thing happened on May 31, 1985, and you can still see the damage to this day.

Faith

Have you ever heard someone point out that faith is not just a religious idea, but that all living requires faith? Like how it takes faith to get on an airplane, faith to believe that what you're eating isn't poison, etc. John Calvin pointed something very interesting out in his Institutes about this that I want to share with you.

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In Book II, Section 1.4, he pointed out that Adam's sin in the garden was an act of faith. When the devil came to Adam and told him that God was lying, and that he would not surely die if he ate, Adam had faith in the devil and believed him. He ate out of faith in the devil's word. God had told him something different, but Adam chose to believe the devil.

If your faith is not in Jesus, you are still acting out of faith. Jesus has said that His burden is light, that His commandments are good, and that He will forgive you and give you eternal life if you come to Him. If you have not done that, what sorts of things are you believing about Him? Who are you believing about him?

The Great GRPC Camping Excursion

Here's a few photos from the great GRPC camping excursion of 2009 at Sinnemahoning State Park.

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This is George B. Stevenson Lake at Sinnemahoning State Park on the First Fork of the Sinnemahoning Creek. If you look closely, you can see the Winklers and Udes waiting for me while I took pictures from the wrong meeting place.

Before we made camp, we went up to Mason Hill, a PGC clear cut on the top of the mountain. Our vehicles made the top of the narrow mountain pass with only a small amount of steam and smoke. This is the view over Driftwood to the east.

Here's the first of many educational opportunities we took advantage of during the weekend. This is Kevin Ude teaching the art of shooting clovers. His students displayed remarkable aptitude.

We did hot dogs and veggies on the fire for dinner. Very tasty.

Pastor Charles talked about his mountain pies for about two hours prior to obtaining one. His comment here: "I would really like to share, but its MINE".

Here's Don Kark putting the "C" in the PCA.

A fine looking pot of tea for breakfast. Alice made it after giving us coffee to "put hair on our chests".

It was really a fine weekend- gorgeous weather and great times. We're already planning on it again next year!

Loved the Soil

Nothing to say about this verse, except that I find it remarkable that such a description is recorded in the Bible. I love the soil too.

And [Uzziah] built towers in the wilderness and cut out many cisterns, for he had large herds, both in the Shephelah and in the plain, and he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil. - II Chron. 26:10

The Curtain Torn

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!" - Matthew 27:50-54

In the Old Testament Temple, there was a veil that kept everyone out of the Holy of Holies, the most secret and holy place of God. When the Lord Jesus died, that veil was broken. It would not be long before the whole Temple would be destroyed, but Matthew is making an important point, for now all the people could go into the most Holy place and worship the Living God through Jesus. The Roman centurion could not have seen or known God in old times, but now He can know Jesus.

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There something about what the centurion said that is very interesting. Now that the veil is torn I think Christians can see something clearly that used to be blurry. It is the mysterious understanding of God Christians call the Trinity. For even though Jesus was dead (at that point), the centurion could see that He was the Son of God.

The Trinity is very mysterious, so I will not say anything to explain it, except to say that it means that there is One God who made heaven and earth, and only One. And He exists forever in Three Persons who love and serve One Another. They are all of the same essence, which means that they are all fully God. And They are also distinct from One another.

That is something that Jesus' death on the cross reveals to us, and which we can look at and ponder about for thousands of years.

Psalm 127 and Chronicles Part II

Last week I made this post, in which I suggested how Psalm 127 could provide an outline of I and II Chronicles. At the bottom I asked this question:

Chronicles is clearly linked to the Restoration, and the Songs of Ascents possibly so. What other connections between Chronicles and the Songs exist? Psalm 132 is an easy one.

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If Psalm 127:1-2 provides the outline for I Chronicles, it also provides the outline for Ezra-Nehemiah. I Chronicles is all about 1) organizing the people and material for Temple-building (Except Yahweh build the house...) and 2) organizing the people for Temple-guarding (Except Yahweh keep the city...).

I don't know why I didn't immediately make the next connection. Ezra is about Temple building, and Nehemiah is about wall building. The only thing missing in Ezra-Nehemiah is Sons.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David... - Matthew 1:1

The Search

Are you searching for Truth? Maybe you are not a member of a particular religion, but are looking for answers to life's questions. I want to point out something about this search that many people are doing.

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I think it is good to search, but one problem for many modern searchers is that they really are not searching. They are just imagining things that might be true. They are asking themselves "If this thing I just thought of were True, would I like it?". They are not looking any farther than what's already in their heads. That's not searching.

Think about the problems with imagining. Could you imagine something you wished for twenty years ago, but would hate for it to be True now? If you imagined Truth in your own head, you would be limiting any future growth in your life! Can you think of something you wished would be true, but another part of you knows that wouldn't be good? How can you trust yourself to pick what's really True out of all the options?

So if you're looking for Truth, you have to get out and search. When you find the Truth about Life, it's got to come completely from outside of you. Someone has to say "This is the Truth about Life", and you'll need to accept as it is. In some ways you will resist it, because it will decide some of your conflicts in a way you wish it wouldn't. In some ways it will perplex you, because it will describe parts of the world that you haven't grown into yet. And in some ways you will love it because it is the Truth about Life that you have been looking for.

Furthermore, when you find someone who has the Truth, they will need to point out where they got it. They will be human too, with all the same limitations as you. They will have to point out how they arrived at the Truth. Maybe you can trace it back to the Truth itself.

And last, don't settle for a counterfeit. The first thing you will discover is that there are competing Truths. But one minute of logical thinking will let you realize that if the Truth comes from outside of us, then one of the Truths is really Truth, and the others are fake. They will come into conflict with each other, and you will need to sift through the impostors. There are many red-herrings out there. This search you have undertaken is not an easy thing!

So if you're searching, get out and search! Read every book in the library. Ask everybody you know, and really listen. Dig through lost tombs like Indiana Jones. Weigh the results and turn away from traps. But don't just imagine. The Truth is out there!

And if you're really searching, honestly, the answers may be very near to you. In fact, they are as close as this. God bless.