A Sunday Storm

It was one of those enjoyable warm Sunday afternoons. Jan and I often go for a ride. We were looking at the results of a tiling project.

After Jan had picked some wild flowers and we were returning home we noticed a storm building to our southwest.

I don't have a picture of the rain and wind. I do remember how unusually green the pond looked as I put a couple of pickups inside just before the storm came. As we watched the storm from our porch things came flying by and I started worrying about our guests celebrating a birthday in the cabin.

Minutes later we got a call from Karl and Kristin. They had lost two buildings and several trees. Kristin's pickup also got beat up.

Across the road from our house the wind had taken one of our small machine sheds and dropped it in a planted corn field.

Several firemen were out tracking the storm and taking pictures of the damage. They pulled off the soft road too far and got stuck.

90% of Mid American Energy customers in our county were out of electricity for most of the night.

On Monday everyone got out their chainsaws and a plan was made to start the cleanup process. 

 

There are two ways of looking at things. I remember a clip on television after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans about 10 years ago of people standing around in their neighborhoods asking when help was coming.

Then I remember the folks in Parkersburg after a tornado telling the TV guys they were welcome to hang around but stay out of the way because their community had work to do.

It's surprising how much can get done when everyone pitches in and works at it. 

This county wide storm with 70-80 mph winds tore things up and made a mess however it could have been so much worse. Everything that was lost is replaceable. 

Many times storms in life resemble the weather storms. They are unexpected, sudden, scary, messy, and usually require a ton of effort to deal with them.

However with a God in charge and a plan, with people around that care, and abilities and talents to make things happen, there is light at the end of the storm clouds.