It’s going to rain on her wedding day. Blaze Thomas realized he had to deliver this bad news to the stranger who’d messaged him for help. An amateur meteorologist with a following in north-central Arkansas, he often gets requests for information like this. Though only 19, Thomas has a high level of expertise about inclement weather and uses this knowledge to serve others. It’s an uncommon ministry for a teenage boy, but Thomas believes tracking the weather is a God-given calling—one that became clear after tragedy.
Photograph by Jacob Slaton
When he was 8 years old, a tornado decimated both the church his father pastored and their home. Thankfully, no one was in either building at the time, but the experience made him aware of how others suffer. By 13, he was a certified HAM radio operator and made friends with older, more experienced colleagues. Eventually, Thomas started using advanced modeling programs to track severe weather, sharing on Facebook what he learned.
Today he’s taking classes online to earn a degree in meteorology and further use his God-given gift to comfort and educate. Nobody gets the forecast right 100% of the time, he says, the experts included. But more often than not, faithfully attending to what God has uniquely made you to do impacts people for the better, even if in small ways. As for the woman Thomas spoke with about her wedding, it poured six inches that day. And the bride walked down the aisle dry as could be, safely indoors.
For more on Blaze’s story, visit www.intouch.org/thomasfamily.
