Storms

This week marks the 41st anniversary of Hurricane Camille that hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1969. While to many it was just a news story it was a turning point in my life. Camille was supposed to be a small storm and was not suppose to hit Mississippi. Because of that, many people did not evacuate…my family among them. We were clueless about hurricanes because we had recently moved to Mississippi from the San Joaquin valley of California where the most dangerous weather was extreme heat in the summer.

I remember the day vividly…I went to church that Sunday morning because it was “Youth in Charge Day” (like we weren’t always!) and I was teaching a senior adult class…the rain had begun. By the time I got home from church the news was that the storm was indeed heading our way and it was to land as a Category 5. We lived a block from the beach but thought we would be fine. We began doing what everyone else was doing; boarding up windows, filling tubs with water and praying! It was too late to leave.

There is nothing worse than waiting for impending danger and my family sat in silence as darkness fell and the sound of wind became louder. By midnight all the electrical transformers had blown so all we could do was listen to the howling outside our home. Leaning against the walls of our hallway, we felt the house begin to “breath,” when we were startled by a limb breaking through the board on a window shattering glass in my bedroom. This scared us, but also relieved the pressure that was building in our well built home. Around 4:00 am I fell asleep but woke at daybreak to a sight I will never forget…all around our house was flat…we had had two huge trees that had fallen away from our house. I remember thinking, “This is bad but not as bad as I thought.” This was until I took a walking tour to some friend’s houses…which were gone…familiar sights under piles of rubble…smells of death already beginning to surface from who knows what in the stifling heat that followed this storm. My cousin had lost everything…the only thing left of her house was a clean slab. I was in shock. Friends were allowed to come to my house to stay since they no longer had a place to call home.

I began to feel guilty…I think they call it survival’s guilt. Why would my family still have a home in tact with very little damage? Why us? Why me? Before this, I had been struggling a bit with the reality that God truly loved me and had a plan for me. I then did what I did whenever I questioned life…I went to play my piano. I noticed a hymnal on the piano had been blown open to a hymn I had never seen. In my questioning, God had chosen a unique way to answer my 16-year-old question…the title of the hymn was, Your Heavenly Father Cares for You. I stood there with tears streaming down my face as the words sunk in. He cares for me. He really did.

From that day forward I never questioned that He truly cares…I still can’t get my arms around why others lost everything including family members. I don’t understand it all but I do understand that God was speaking to my young heart.

I believe that God used Camille to show me that after devastation, no matter how terrible, there is a tomorrow. The coast built back-even stronger…lives began again…there was a tomorrow. It was a lesson I learned as a youth…a valuable lesson. I began in earnest my journey with Jesus Christ that day…after a storm. I began to realize also that just because I was a Christian, I was not immune to storms in my life! The fact is there have been many more storms since that August day in 1969…some physical some personal…but the lesson is the same…God provides a tomorrow and with each tomorrow, we grow stronger in Him.

Maybe you are having a storm of your own, right now. May I encourage you to look to Him? This situation was not a surprise to Him and He has a plan in this devastation to strengthen and comfort you in the middle of it all. My go-to verse in this is, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Is 43:2 The important words here are “when” and “through!” You will have storms but when you hold on to His hand you will make it through! Remember, He cares for you!!