When driving home from our trip, we decided to make a side excursion to find a Barnes and Noble to get a gift certificate for our cat-sitter. This led to a series of clues that finally led us to a mall. As we were leaving, Jason asked if I had overheard the conversation at the coffee counter. A girl had mentioned that the mall seemed deserted, probably because of all the tornado warnings out. The other lady had responded, “Yeah. But they're all canceled now.” That was our second clue, the first being the storm chaser that had passed us on I-80.

Leaving the area we tuned into a station for more information. This was helpful, because about a half hour later we had the opportunity to practice the terminology we learned in the storm spotters training we took earlier this spring.

As we watched the storm develop rapidly around us, we were able to recognize several classic parts, and when I thought I spotted some rotation, I didn't stick around to find out. I hit the accelerator and hurried from there, knowing we were in the location the trainer had told us not to be in these storms.

Scurrying away from there at slightly above the speed limit, we hit heavy rain - the front of the storm. It was then that I kept hearing peacefully inside, in response to my prayers, to slow down. Confused, I wondered why, since we were trying to outrun what was behind us. But we could also see some impressive storm clouds in front of us, and modified our route slightly. We seemed to skirt all activity the rest of the way home.

Upon arrival, we discovered there had been tornadoes and large hail in the areas West and East of us (we were heading North), and we saw on the radar that the thin storm line stretched from Missouri up into Wisconsin. It was a solid line, except for one part. There was only one gap - the one we must have driven through. My prayers turned to praises as I realized what God's directions kept us from.