Thursday, April 5, 2012

Jesus and Tornadoes (repost with pics)

(a repost with pictures added)


Here's the deal. It's the week before Easter. You know, the celebration of Jesus rising from the dead. Yup. He arose! And to be frank, I suppose if Jesus can rise from the dead, I shouldn't be too terribly shocked that somewhere between 13 and 19 tornadoes touched down in the Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex yesterday and from the latest reports, not one person died.


Now, to be classified as a tornado, there has to be some kind of scary definition. Something along the lines of "Crazy, fast winds that go in circles and pick up stuff and take said stuff to the sky (or off the ground) and place stuff elsewhere in a not very orderly fashion." That's just my rough guess. One would think that amongst 13 to 19 tornadoes, someone would have been picked up and tossed about and killed. Nope. Doesn't seem to have happened.


Seriously.



Here's my story. All day, I was watching the radars and listening to the experts. When the scary storms were headed to one city, I'd call Dad and tell him to run to the closet. When the scary storms were headed to another city, I'd holler at David to run to his safe place. When the scary storms were headed to Big D, I'd holler at my sister to get somewhere safe. My Mom was no where near the scary stuff. I called her and told her to stay away. Everything seemed to be staying away from my lovely Poetry. I was getting a nice (false) sense of security, watching all those red and yellow zones west of my location.




I got a bottle of window cleaner and a roll of paper towels and started cleaning windows. It seemed like a good idea at the time.




Around 3:40pm or so, the nice weatherman and his radars indicated ugliness in Forney. Not just ugliness. The T word. A tornado (later to be rated an EF3) had touched down and it was headed north east. Then, it was in McLendon-Chisholm. Well, my stars. Guess who the T word was coming at?


I started packing stuff into my safe place. I packed water, nuts for protein, 2 flashlights, a spare battery, Burt's Bees lip wax, a box of Puffs, my cell phone, my house phone, pillows and a comforter and pain meds. My safe place is the master closet. I figured if any of those hangers jabbed me in the head, I might want some pain meds. Wasn't that smart?

I put on my engagement ring so that if my body was found, they could identify it by the rock, if not by my face.


Before I made it into the closet, I heard something. Nope. Not the famed "train" that folks say you will hear. I heard a constant roll of thunder. You know how the tires on an airplane sound when driving on the tarmac after landing? That's what I heard.


The electricity went out.



I got to the closet and my ears started popping. I started wondering if the clean windows were supposed to be open or closed. What is the rule?



I was getting text messages and phone calls from all those people that I had been checking on earlier. I began to rely on them for my radar/weatherman updates. Nope. I don't have a smart phone. Nor do I have a battery operated radio (that I can think of). My sister would tell me, "That was a bad one, but another one is coming. Stay put and hang on." Hang on? She told me to hang on? Eeeek!

After about 40 minutes of updates, I emerged. I walked to the clean windows and looked out. I saw no major devastation. In fact, the only odd thing that I saw was a tall weed with it's rootball attached, laying in the backyard. I've looked around the yard and can't figure out where it came from. I guess those scary, fast winds brought it to me.
(it was green when I saw it)


I drove around today. Within a couple miles of my home and of The Primitique, buildings are history. Roofs are gone. Buildings are gone and roofs are there. Buildings are in ponds. Trees have been snapped all over everywhere. I just heard that the tornado that hit closest was an EF2.












Did I mention that there has been no reported loss of human life? Listen here. If Jesus can rise from the dead, well my goodness, tornadoes not killing folks shouldn't surprise me.


God, within the very same breath, showed us His power and His Grace.


This Easter hug your family a little tighter. Praise God a little louder. And embrace with your whole heart the gift of Jesus Christ. Amen.


Happy Life!

~Mindy

14 comments:

  1. So glad you ( and the rock ) are ok !!! VERY scary !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy life indeed! And I love spending it with you! And I enjoyed your story!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I loved reading your take on the day!! My family is in the DFW Metroplex and I was watching The Weather Channel from way up here in Philly (moved here from N. of Fort Worth, last year). I was so happy to hear that there were no deaths!! Things can be replaced, lives cannot. My oldest and his family are fine...no damage, my father and step-mom, fared very well, everyone I know came out with very little damage...even my good friends in Forney!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my goodness - how scarey! So glad you are safe and sound...well, safe anyway :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mindy - Amazing, and yes a miracle that there was no loss of life! So glad all is well with you and you'll be enjoying a very happy, and blessed Easter.

    God bless you my friend! Kathy

    ReplyDelete
  6. My husband and I were having lunch and we watched the whole thing live on CNN. All the tractor trailers being thrown hundreds of feet in the air! surreal. praying the whole time. so glad everyone was safe. And God is good, xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love your story and the tie-in with Easter!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Glad everyone is okay! Lots of prayers were going out for all in the DFW area and all of east Texas yesterday!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Steve and I talked about how amazing it was that not one life was lost. God is great :)

    When I get home the first thing I do is take off my jewelry, never wear it around the house. But, when the weather starts getting bad that is always the first thing I do, grab my rings and put them on. Oh and Scruff, I have to take care of Scruff. He's Molly's favorite little stuffed animal. He's been a member of our family for a longgggggg time. When Molly was little, and weather was bad on school days, she'd always instruct me to take Scruff to the storm shelter with me if I had to go. Of course now that she's 15 she doesn't carry him around, but she does always know where he is. What a good little Mama she's gonna be some day. Speaking of that, over Spring break she and her best friend were talking about how many kids they wanted to have. I was informed Molly wants 6 !!!! Ohhhhh lawdy, this Nana will need energy pills. LOL!!!! Ok ... I'll stop my rambling now.
    So glad you're ok!
    Tracy :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. How frightening. I have heard the "freight train" before and it sure does get your attention. So glad that all are safe.

    Have a blessed Easter for He has risen, indeed!
    Teresa

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm so glad you are ok, and that nobody died. That is truly amazing. We were in Farmers Branch doing Bridal stuff when we got phone calls from our various other halves telling us to book it out of there. East we headed, lickety split and avoided the whole mess. Glad you are OK. Oh and congrats on the engagement!!!!! Bout time :)

    Loved your line "God, within the very same breath, showed us His power and His Grace." well said.

    Margo

    ReplyDelete
  12. Soooo glad you and your family are okay...I was prayin for you! Loved your story and all the pictures...thanks so much for sharing!

    Have a wonderful Easter...

    Michele

    ReplyDelete
  13. Mindy, you always have the most inspiring posts! So glad everyone was safe. Glad the Primitique was un scathed, cuz someday we are coming out to see you all!

    katy

    ReplyDelete
  14. Mindy, you always have the most inspiring posts! So glad everyone was safe. Glad the Primitique was un scathed, cuz someday we are coming out to see you all!

    katy

    ReplyDelete

I smile when I see each new comment. Ideas, acknowledgements, sharing. Your words are always appreciated. Thank you!