Miracles...

Members in Tennessee Survive Tornado
Tornadoes Affect Members in Arkansas

Members in Tennessee Survive Tornado

Jimmy and Judy Law were protected through a direct hit by a twister; they met the president in the aftermath.

by Fred Kellers

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, tornadoes struck the mid-South. The hardest-hit state, with the most deaths, was Tennessee. Most of the deaths occurred in the little town of Lafayette where three Church members live. Mary Roark's home was spared, but the home of members Jimmy and Judy Law was completely destroyed, while they were in it.

Before the tornado struck, Judy was watching the progress of the storm on TV. Jimmy had gone to bed. From the radar on the TV it looked as if the tornado was going to pass several miles to the west of Lafayette. It was not yet even raining on their home. The electricity went off and Judy was no longer able to follow the progress of the tornado.

At about 10:30 p.m., Judy could hear what sounded like heavy rain coming. The sound came closer, and it began to sound like a roar. She knew it must be a tornado, so she ran to the bedroom where Jimmy was asleep and yelled, "It's coming!"

Jimmy jumped out of bed and said, "What's coming?"

The noise grew louder and Judy said, "It's here!"

Protected

Jimmy quickly went toward the kitchen. He felt what he thought was Judy's hand holding his hand. When he got to the kitchen, the roof lifted off the house and the walls fell over.

Back in the bedroom, Judy had dropped to the floor and grabbed the foot of the bed, hoping that it would hold her down. Furniture fell over both Jimmy and Judy, not to crush them but to form little pockets of safety. The mattress lifted off the bed but, rather than flying off as would be expected, it slid over Judy to cover her head and the upper part of her back.

The tornado passed by. Jimmy looked for Judy. He had thought that Judy was with him because he had felt someone holding his hand when he went to the kitchen, but he now saw that she wasn't with him. They began to call to each other. He went back into the bedroom and found her on the floor in a little pocket of furniture.

What held Jimmy and Judy down? Why didn't they blow away? They know that God saved them.

Jimmy and Judy have been married 37 years, are still very much in love and feel the worst thing would have been if only one of them had survived. As far as material possessions, the Laws wisely had their house, car and pickup fully insured and those things are being replaced. The main uninsured loss was an old dump truck that Jimmy used in his business that was too old to be insured other than for liability. However, Jimmy has already purchased a replacement for it.

Meeting the President

On Friday, Feb. 8, U.S. President George W. Bush came to Lafayette to comfort the residents. He walked through the Laws' neighborhood and spent time with those who had lost their homes. He was not in a hurry and spoke to Jimmy and the other neighbors, listened to their stories, gave them hugs and promised that the government would do what it could to help. It does appear that the government has learned since Hurricane Katrina and that it is being as helpful as possible.

Jimmy now feels that the hand he felt holding his hand was that of an angel.

On Sabbath, I asked Jimmy and Judy to tell our little Bowling Green, Kentucky, congregation their story, so before services started they took about 20 minutes to give us the inspiring details. They finished by saying that they had learned something valuable from this trial. As Jimmy said, "We have too many 'things' we worry about. We have too much 'stuff.'" UN

Tornadoes Affect Members in Arkansas

The spate of tornadoes in Arkansas in early February affected the Gassville area, about 9 miles west of Mountain Home. A tornado ripped up about a quarter of the city. One of our members had moderate damage to his home, but it could have been much worse.

The couple was sitting in the living room when the tornado hit. It totally destroyed their garage, tore off part of the roof, blew windows out and put a tree limb through one of the bedrooms. Their sunroom was destroyed. They were sitting in the living room about 12 to 15 feet from this destruction, but were unharmed.

The storm even blew the door off their storm shelter and caved in part of the concrete block construction. A 1960s pickup he was restoring was picked up from his driveway and deposited across the street about 75 yards away.

God was definitely protecting them. Their house, even though it was damaged, fared much better than the ones beside it and behind it.

—Michael Blackwell