Storms are a fact of everybody's life. If it's calm now, you can be sure that somewhere up ahead there's a storm.

The question is are you ready for the time when things start spinning out of control around you and inside of you? Since we know we have to make it through life's storms, we need to know we've got what it takes to make it through the crises that have sunk so many other people.

There's just something fascinating about a lighthouse. There was a story on the evening news about a photographer who loves the seagull perspective on lighthouses. In this little customized aircraft, he flies over Maine's many picturesque lighthouses, shooting unusual aerial photos of them. They're beautiful; they're even inspiring. He's seen them and photographed them in all kinds of settings: sunshine, clouds, storms, high tide, and low tide. He summarized what he's seen this way: "The lighthouse is always there, but everything else is changing."

There are moments for all of us when we get hit head-on with the emotional equivalent of an F-5 tornado. Few words strike more fear into hearts in Middle America than the word "tornado," and rightly so.