Comic Belief: Sinking Sand

Charles Lowery

Charles Lowery

Charles Lowery is president and CEO of Lowery Institute for Excellence, Inc., a non-profit training and consulting organization. This article was adapted from his book, “Comic Belief 2”

I’m writing this as summer comes to a close. It has been a hot season in Texas. It has been so hot that the dogs are chasing the cats, but they are both walking. We are now in the middle of hurricane season. I have had a lot of experience with hurricanes — in fact, I lost a condo to a hurricane. Actually, it was with 20 other owners. It was a nightmare to rebuild. It was like a committee of 20 trying to build a building. The financial part was easy. We were underinsured, so the deficit was just divided by the number of owners in the condo association. Simple, isn’t it? It might work at companies or churches. Just divide the cost of building by each employee or member.

Not only have I lost a condo to a hurricane, I have hunkered down and stayed in that condo through a hurricane. That was the year before the hurricane that destroyed the complex. Evidently at the time, I was thinking of making a Forrest Gump movie sequel entitled “Stupid Is As Stupid Does.” By the way, when the weatherman says it is going to be in the upper 90s and he is talking wind velocity, it’s time to leave. What I remember vividly is the constant wind and a strange tearing and whistling noise coming from the roof. Later, I discovered that this was the sound of the shingles leaving my roof and landing on my car — the only car in the parking lot because everyone else knew to evacuate. Did you know that shingles spin very fast during a hurricane? My car looked like it had been in a demolition derby and lost.

I was in Mississippi for Hurricane Katrina. Actually, I was there to speak, and Katrina cancelled me. I was stuck in a bed and breakfast, and I was the only one there. I called my wife on my cell phone and was whining about my predicament. She told me that all of the people along the coast had lost their homes. I discovered that hurricanes put things like creature comforts in perspective.

I have also discovered that it is hard to predict hurricanes. I was speaking in Florida when all of the residents were evacuated from one city to another to escape an approaching hurricane. The hurricane then turned and hit the city to which everyone had evacuated. It’s like when you leave one company to get away from an ornery supervisor only to discover he is at the new company, of course using a different name.

I have also discovered that you need different exit strategies for hurricanes. I was leaving Bradenton trying to get to the Tampa airport before a hurricane hit. I thought the evacuation traffic would be horrible. It was a piece of cake. I was the only one on the interstate. It was great — the wind was blowing in my direction. I was going 75 mph in neutral. Sometimes the light at the end of a tunnel is an oncoming train. Sometimes it is the policeman telling you that you are an idiot. The kind policeman explained to me that the road had been closed because it leads directly to the sky bridge that tends to shake (a lot) with 80 mph winds.

My hurricane experience is extensive. I was trying to get to Fort Lauderdale about the same time as Hurricane Fay was making landfall. The pilot thought about landing but decided against it. He circled, waiting for the winds to die down until we were low on fuel. Then we skipped over to Fort Myers to refuel, but we were not allowed off the plane. So I was in an airplane seat for seven hours. After about six hours, I started to hallucinate. I thought maybe I should get a real job again so I didn’t have to travel. Finally, the takeoff and landing came out evenly. I really did speak well, too! It’s probably because I ended up confessing sins I had only thought about doing.

What can we learn from this bit of hurricane history? The main thing we can learn is that there will be seasons of bad events. The Bible is very honest. It says that it doesn’t matter if your house is built on the rock or the sand; the same storms are going to come. If you read about it, it sounds like a hurricane. The rains fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against the house. There will be a season of storms that will beat against your house, your business or your church.

When do you prepare for a hurricane? You prepare before it arrives. I couldn’t move my car when shingles were blowing at 80 mph. You can’t nail a shutter down when the wind is blowing so hard you can’t stand on a ladder or even control the hammer. You can’t get off the road when you have passed the last exit.

There is a benefit to hurricanes. After one comes through your life, it’s simple to determine what was built on solid rock and what was build on sinking sand. It makes preparing for the next one a whole lot easier.