Anyone who reads the news knows that Mississippi had devastating tornadoes that left a path of destruction 100 miles long on Friday. One tornado left a one-mile-wide path and was designated and F4 (out of F5). I was told by a neighbor that the huge tornado that destroyed so many cities initially passed 11 miles north of my home in Yazoo County.
Oddly after all the devastation on Sunday afternoon, the weather cleared and was sunny and bright. So, my wife and I went to a restaurant in Canton MS. It was a beautiful day. After we finished dining, we came outside and the sky looked black and threatening; it was dramatically different than just an hour earlier. We began our drive home and went through thirty-some-odd miles of the worst weather one could imagine. The sky was so black it was like night and then hail began pounding my truck with a vengeance.
The tremendous wind reminded me of several life-threatening events far offshore I have experienced where I was caught in a huge storm with the rain actually coming at us horizontally at times. Hmmm, what to do? There are no overpasses on this road and stopping made absolutely no sense. I just decided to slow down but keep moving toward home.
It is funny what you think of at times like this. I was beginning to think that this may be the end of us. My wife was obviously afraid, but I was strangely calm. I thought that maybe we would go to heaven together and it was a comforting thought of not having to endure the loss of one of us after 52 years of marriage. I asked God that His will be done and gritted my teeth and kept driving.
I thought the rain and wind would lighten up after a few miles, but it continued to howl and rage mile after mile while the hail pounded my truck with such velocity that I was afraid it might knock my windshield out. I have not checked it yet this morning, but I can’t imagine it not having dents all over it.
About a mile from our home the rain let up and we made it inside the home without getting drenched. Almost as soon as we got in the house the lightning and rain resumed with renewed wicked punishment. When we went to bed it was still raining hard and lightning was lighting up the sky like a huge fireworks display and thunder was shaking the house like a far too loud woofer.
This morning I looked at the photos of the devastation of the surrounding communities ravaged by the storms and read of the deaths of 26 people and the extensive property damage. For the most part, it is a terribly poverty-stricken area and these poor people lost what little they had, but the loss of life was the sobering headline.
This morning I prayed for these poor people and their loved ones. I thanked God for delivering my wife and me from this terrible supercell storm. I also thanked God that He was with us comforting us through the mighty winds, rain, hail, and lightning. Most of all I thanked Him for saving my soul and my wife’s so that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the instant we die we will be with Him and as it was on the Sea of Galilee Jesus will quell all the storms of life and we shall no peace and rest. My friends when Jesus lives within our souls as with the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” . . . Come to Jesus and you shall fear not!
2 Timothy 1:7
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.