“When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" – Psalm 11:3

My first thought, as I swerved wildly to avoid a collision with the car that had pulled suddenly into my lane, was, "No, I just want to go home!” The sickening sound of collapsing metal, the helplessness of inertia, the feeling of loss of control, the fear of secondary collisions with oncoming traffic, and the uncertainty of what was over the ditch I was careening towards happened in seconds. Fortunately, after a relatively brief delay in recapping the events of the accident with police, getting checked out by paramedics and talking to the other driver, I was able to go home.

Unfortunately, the people whose lives have been ripped apart by the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma and Kansas, don’t have homes to where they can go back.

My recent car crash taught me how quickly events can escalate into catastrophe when we lose focus for even a brief moment. Tornadoes teach us what happens when we as a society unleash forces that result in our ruin: there’s nothing left to where we can go back. The America we loved and believed in is quickly being reduced to rubble as we watch in horror the actions and decisions of the people in charge or our time honored institutions – courts, law enforcement, elected officials, tax collection agents, regulators, educators, the military and the Office of the President – display contempt for the principles that made us a good and great people.

Some tried drawing the line in the sand. “Don’t you dare step over the line of Disbelief!” And when they did we redrew the line a little farther back and said, “I really mean it this time, don’t cross the line of Decadence.” But they did. So, sigh, we redrew the line again and said, “Seriously, do not cross the line of Depravity or you’ll really be sorry.” With emboldened impudence and malice in their eyes they knocked us down as they crossed the line.

With backs at the cliff, feebly we draw the line and say, “Please don’t cross the line of Decay…” with little hope in our heart that anyone is listening, and there’s no room to draw the line on Destruction.

What can the righteous do?

• Lot moved when the angels, with whom Abraham pleaded for ten righteous to be found, forcibly dragged his family away from certain destruction – we can pray.

• The Pilgrims moved across the ocean – we can seek higher ground.

• The Mormons moved across the desert – we can stick together.

• The Amish never moved from the simplicity of life – we can reorder our priorities.

Maybe its time we stop moving backwards and hold the line. Or soon we won’t have a home to where we can go back.