Modern Passover

I love this season of  Passover, Good Friday and Resurrection Day.  I am in more awe at the magnificent plan of God every year!  This year I am a little more in awe because today is not only Good Friday, the day the Passover Lamb  was sacrificed, but it is also the 30th anniversary of a very special and personal passover.

Thirty years ago today one of the largest tornadoes in recent history ripped through Wichita Falls, Texas destroying thousands of people’s homes and killing 42.  Our home was destroyed while my parents,grandmother, dog, brother and myself huddled in a closet.  The chimney fell into our living room.  If it had fallen just inches in a different direction we would have all been crushed.  None of us even had a scratch.  

It seems that every year I live I am increasingly aware that it was surely the Hand of God that protected us.  Just before the tornado hit, my mom handed a Bible to my brother and told him to read Psalm 91. Many people talk about the noise of that enormous storm, but honestly, the only thing I ever remember hearing was the sound of my mother’s prayers. I hadn’t thought about it until this year, but ironically, the tornado hit during Passover.  

I look to that event as those in the Old Testament looked at the altars they built to commerate the Great things God had done for them so that future generations would know of the faithfulness of God.  So I write about this event and post the photos not to re-live a tragedy, but to show that God was faithful to His Word.  Everyone was hurt that day;  some more than others.  I mourn with those who lost more than just their homes.  Sometimes there is a bit of survivors guilt that makes it hard, but I must give God the glory for what He did that day for my family.

Sometimes the healing takes a long time.  The sting may never go away completely, but our God is a God of redemption and in the end, He makes all things beautiful.  For my family, the redemption came two years ago with the birth of my brothers son Ethan on April 10, 2007.  God has given us something to rejoice over on a day that is referred to as Terrible Tuesday to all who knew of it.  Thank you Jesus, Our Redeemer for keeping us alive to see your redemption in the next generation.

 

The photos from left to right:

1. The merged tornadoes on the ground

2. My street

3. My living room

4.  The four funnels just before they merged