On Good Friday.....

On Good Friday, as our house endured some furious rain and small pelts of hail, a mere 25 minute zip on the Interstate away, tornadoes were touching down, treating trees like toothpicks and moving cars like small marbles. Soon we discovered that the powerful element of Mother Nature had briefly visited the neighborhood of Thomas’s sister and her family. Once stowed away in the bathroom of their house for a just under two minutes, they emerged to find many homes around them equipped with new views, for entire roofs and/or entire sides of a house no longer existed. Their immediate neighbors once had a storage shed outside that was no where to be found, yet its contents were visible in nearly every yard around. Nice wooden privacy fences that once stood tall and useful suddenly became flat pancakes in the grass. Telephone poles and other debris covered the streets out from and into their home. Power was out and the sound of news helicopters and chainsaws began to fill the air. The images I was viewing on the news soon were visible in my living room via their digital camera. Safe and sound, our family arrived for what was to become a slumber party, of sorts.

Elizabeth brought some perishable items, and we crammed them into our fridge and freezer. The kiddos played like maniacs, and I began to develop sleeping arranges for our four sudden guests. Thomas began prepping our spaghetti dinner and everyone was just prayerful for those still discovering the destruction and thankful for our family’s safety, as well as the protection of their home and possessions.

As some of the aerial images from the events were flashed up on the television, Daniel had a great description of the scene: “Oh no! A MESS!”

A mess…..yes, certainly.

Tornadoes in this area are something we are accustomed to, or tornado warnings at least, for it seems like the weatherman is always reporting on something pending. There will be touchdowns, typically even in your city, but it is a totally different story when it is your home being hit, or the one next to you for that matter. Although it was not our home and neighbors, it was our immediate family, and it makes the events seem surreal. We were very grateful to be able to help them out and give them a lighted house, hot water, and fresh/hot food to eat. Daniel was ecstatic to have playmates. Overall, Jon and Liz are very happy to have a home to return to, and many in the area are forever grateful to still have a life.

After Daniel noted the mess being seen on TV, the news reporter of that station made a comment that “Good Friday” must now not be considered so good to many. Quickly, however, viewers e-mailed and called the station, claiming that instead of “Good Friday,” it is “Great Friday,” for the survivors had another day to live and just one more reason to be thankful during this Easter season.

SO true.