Chapter Six
"Weather or Not"
I Don't Want A Twisted Sister
Every Cloud Has A, , , , Tunnel?
Which Will It Be, Sun or Rain?
Pretty, Fluffy and White, , , , But Dangerous!
I Don't Want A Twisted Sister
In the spring of 1996, we were having a normal, quiet evening at home in
Cotter, AR. We had just finished eating supper and I was relaxing in the
living room with some reading material, and my wife, Teresa, was straight
ening the kitchen.
My attention was directed to her when I heard the kitchen door open. I
heard step out the door and into the carport whereshe hesitated. "Honey,
come here," she called, "Something sounds weird."
Since I have an interest in and can relate to 'weird', I jumped up from my
chair.
Now let's take a look at the layout of our home. The living room is
fifteen and a half feet wide and 30 feet long. Along one side, there are
two sliding glass doors which open onto the deck. The curtains were pulled
back and we could see outside. On the other side of the room were two
doorways of which one was to the entry and the front door. the other was
to the kitchen.
While this kitchen was 16 feet long, it was only 7 and one-half feet wide
from the living room to the outside door.
Well, Teresa called and I got up and walked to the kitchen door where she
stood just outside on a wooden landing. She was just holding a sack of
trash and looking somewhat puzzled. She says, "Listen."
I stepped out and listened. I felt a gentle breeze and heard what sounded
like a freight train coming into town. The railroad does come through town
and passes just about six or seven hundred feet away, but it never sounds
like it's coming through at full speed. What we heard sounded like a cross
between a freight train at full speed and a continuous rumble of thunder.
Since I have never heard this sound before, I supposed that it might be
something I have never heard before. I considered that it might be what I
really didn't want to face. I thought that we just might be in some
serious trouble,,, and I didn't tell Teresa. I didn't want her to worry
and I didn't want to have to peel her from the ceiling.
"Come on inside, Babe," I told her, "We'll take the trash out later."
She stepped into the kitchen and I had just shut the door and I heard her
say, "Look, Honey," She was standing in the doorway to the living room and
pointing toward the sliding glass doors.
Sounds nice to hear a man and wife call each other things like "Honey,"
"Sweety," "Babe," and "Sugar" right?,,,, [I wonder if she may have
forgotten my name.]
I looked to see what it was. I saw hail blowing in sideways and it was
already piling up at the bottom of the doors by four or five inches. The
hail had no downward slope at all; it hit the house from a horizontal
projection.
We could hear the loud road of the intense winds. The lights went out as
we stood in awe of what we witnessing. Soon, within moments (about
60-90 seconds), everything was suddenly calm. It was almost total
silence.
Still in darkness, we walked outside to see what was left of the neighbor
hood. Debris was strewn all over. It seemed that the homes were still
standing though, and in the dark of the night we could see no damage.
Soon, my daughter, Dawn, and her husband, Kaylon, drove up. They said that
the police tried to get them to turn around and not even go into Cotter.
They told the officers that they were wanting to check on us. They were
allowed to come on down but they had to detour on an alternate street
since there were trees down one of which took out the power lines.
The next day, we ventured out to see what damage had been done. Though
there was debris and various damages all over our community as as well as
our sister town, Gassville, this is some of the highlights. To the best of
our knowledge, the following is what had happened that night:
1. The tornado apparently came in from what they call 'tornado alley'
across the White River, and hit the bluff. From there it must have bounced
and zig-zagged down through Cotter.
2. It tore some limbs from several trees.
3. It ripped up one of the oldest and most beautiful trees in town. It was
at least 3 1/2 to four feet in diameter. It fell between the house and
garage. It clipped corner of the roof of the house and caught the corner
of the garage. But that wasn't all. These people had their beautiful late
model Cadillac parked in the driveway. This enormous tree fell across the
car from the passenger's side of the front seat to the driver's side of
the back seat.
Five days later, they bought a brand new awesomely beautiful Cadillac.
They had it two days when we had a bad hail storm in the wee hours in the
morning. I looked on the deck outside and the hail was the size of tennis
balls. The Caddy was sitting in the driveway again. Well, needles to say,
I haven't seen the Caddy in the driveway since they got the garage rebuilt
.
4. It hit one block away, pulling two trees from the ground, roots and
all. These two trees were both tossed about twenty feet from the holes
they were ripped from.
5. It came by our house, removed some clapboards from the rear of the
neighbor's house which is about fifteen feet from ours. This house was on
the side away from our deck, which is the side the twister was on. The
house on the other side of us, where there are believers, also was
untouched.
6. On its way through, it stripped the bark off a tree and took a limb
from the one beside it. They were at the edge of the woods behind our
place.
7.It then touched down about 100 feet behind our house. where it shredded
trees and brush in an area about 40 feet in diameter.
8. It then went a block further where there was a house just across from
city hall. This house had two sixty foot pine trees standing not ten feet
from the facade of the house. The top of one of the trees had been twisted
off about fifteen feet above the ground, and thrown across the street onto
the City Hall lawn.
The tornado was all around our house, but we and our property were spared.
There was a great wind causing destruction in all the community, even next
door, but we came out unscathed. Understand, we were between the twister
and the house that had clapboards ripped off.
God guided that twisting funnel of wind around our house and those of
others believers. In fact just yesterday (Friday March 27th 1998)
we had a bad storm blow through. There were tornado warnings from all over
the state.
A tree in our Christian neighbor's yard was blown down. It was dying and
our neighbor was waiting to figure out the best way to take it down. His
house was on one side, and a fence on the other. Behind it was an old dead
tree trunk which houses some woodpeckers, which we both like. The only
safe way to drop it was a small fifteen foot wide path past the front of
the house. There was a fence there but it would just make it.
When the storm took it down, it fell right in the only safe area. It broke
a small limb on the hickory tree on one side, and caught the rain gutter
at the very corner of the house. It pulled the gutter out about four
inches. He can just push the gutter back up and secure it and all is well.
My neighbor can cut a tree down and put it just about where he wants it,
but the storm laid it right on. Lyle told me that he couldn't have planned
it to fall any better than that.
God's protection of even our homes and property are in His careful
consideration. All the home insurance I can buy is nothing like the
insurance and assurance I have in Christ.
"Every Cloud Has A, , , , Tunnel?
In the early 1980's, I was asked to go to Cumberland, Maryland to minister
in song, along with others, at a little church on Eastern Avenue.
The service was conducted beautifully by the Holy Spirit and souls were
greatly touched. As we were preparing for the closing prayer, I requested
that the church pray for me for my trip back home, which at that time was
about 65 miles away.
I called to their attention that the fog was always very heavy on Polosh
Mountain just east of Cumberland. Being that I was to travel home that
way I wanted prayer for safety and clear roads. They agreed and of course
prayed.
As I left the church, I wondered what I might encounter as I would climb
Polish Mountain. Never-the-less, I was convinced that God would have His
protecting hand involved in my short 65 mile trip home.
As I began climbing the mountain, I heard the truckers on the CB Radio
talking about how the fog was so bad on the upper half of Polish Mountain.
I considered that God can change things and the truckers may not even
notice.
As I climbed this mouintain, I began seeing wisps of fog. The fog
continued to get worse. It thickened making it nearly impossible to see
past front bumper. "Come on Lord," I thought, "You have controlled the
storm Mark 4:39. I know you can take care of a little fog."
Suddenly, the fog dissipated until there was no fog in front of my car.
Praising the Lord for His power and authority, I looked around me and
realized something magnificent. While there was no fog on the road in
front of my car, there was, in fact, fog above my car, fog at the right
shoulder and across the highway, and fog at the right shoulder and beyond.
As I pondered this, the fog was here as usual, but He made a tunnel
through it so that I could have clear roads to trvel on.
God truly is the true Master of our weather and He is shtill the
ruler of all creation.
Praise be to Most High God.
Which Will It Be, Sun or Rain?
In the spring of 1993, I was in the process of building an addition on my
house. It seemed that, though I moved to Arkansas in 1991 leaving my
children and other family members living in Maryland and southern Pennsyl
vania, the children decided to follow me here to Cotter, Arkansas where
we bout a nice little four room house.
Since the kids were coming back like homing pigeons, I decided that I must
add on some bedrooms to accomodate them. We had put in the footers and
blocks for the addition and we were ready to begin on the floor joists
and on to the walls.
Much of our dismay it began raining causing the building project to be
temporarily stopped. My wife, Teresa, was getting anxioux asking about how
it will look, and what will go over here, and why is this here. She
couldn't wait but the rain and showers still fell.
After a week of this, Teresa thought that the Lord can give us sunshine.
She could ask the church to pray for this much needed sunshine (at
least to her it was needed).
As we sat in church, she got excited when we approached the time for
prayer requests. She was going to ask for her sunshine.
When they arrived at prayer request time, one of the farmers rose up
asking for more rain for their crops. Immediately, several other farmers
responded with a hearty "Amen!" or "Yes, brother, we need it."
Teresa turned to me and gave me the strangest facial expression. It was
like she was non-verbally saying, "What do I do now? They asked for rain.
Honey?..... Honey?"
I could only shrug my shoulders. What could I do? I didn't know how to
answer her.
Then I noticed another look on her face. With a slight smile she turned
toward the front.
"Teresa, what are you going to do?" I thought to myself.
When an opportunity came, she innocently said, "We need sunny days so the
builders can get to working on the house again." < br>
As the rest of the church began chuckling, I tried to disguise the look
that I know was showing. It must have been one of horror.
What was she doing?!? This could be seen as division in the church,,,
maybe. Or someone migh see it as Teresa chalenging God, "Well, who's
prayer are you going to answer, Lord? Huh? Mine or the farmers?"
I knew that Teresa was sincere inher request. I knew her well enough to
realize that she would not want to take anything away fromthe farmers or
anyone else. When they prayed, I didn't hear any prayers for sunshine
except for Teresa. I prayed that God would have His complete will in the
matter.
That night it continued to rain but at dawn, the sun was shining. We were
pleased to see the contractors begin to work again.
After a week, Teresa and I noticed that God was providing for everyone.
God was providing rain for the farmers at night, while giving us warm
sunny days so the builders could work. He was quite capable to answer both
needs.
He was able to give us rain and sunshine during the same period of
time. The farmers got plenty of rain and their crops grew wonderfully
while at the same time, our builders were able to get out addition built.
Only a true God is so awesome that He can answer opposing prayers simultan
eously.
He deserves all the praise, glory and honor. Amen.
"Pretty, Fluffy and White, But Extremely Dangerous.
In December of 1993, my daughter Dawn and her husband Kaylon wanted to go
to Washington County Maryland where they could visit with family members.
Dawn's Grandparents and cousins, etc.
They had an older pickup truck and felt that it would be much safer
traveling in my car. Dawn, giggling, said that I could feel free to come
along, too, if I wanted. She told me that I could even have the great
privilege of doing some of the driving. That was not what I wanted to
hear, but thought that since my calendar was free I could do some visiting
with my family. and friends.
I hadn't considered that it was December and the mid-Atlantic Appalachians
do get their share of winter. Later, I couldn't believe that I had
neglected to listen to the national weather reports. This is something I'd
always done previous to this particular trip, but not this time.
The trip consisted of traveling nearly 1,000 mile. We would leave Arkansas
through Misouri, touching the southern tip of Illinois. Then we would
drive the entire length of Kentucky and West Virginia. The last 100 miles
would be through the Maryland Appalatian Mountains where you'll find some
of the most beautiful scenery that God has given us.
The first haft of the trip was uneventful and routine. Usually, I wouldn't
get bored, but I was getting close this time.
About 50 miles east of Lexington, Kentucky we stopped to get gas and, of
course, coffee. The coffee was to perk me up so I wouldn't be so weary.
I would have, by this time, turned the driving to the children but I
didn't. I had a strange feeling that I must continue. I know now
that it was the Holy Spirit encouraging me to continue because of what was
about to unfold before us.
We pulled back onto I-64 at about 2 a.m. I felt alert in the brisk night
air and the cool mist which was falling on the windshield. The road
appeared coal black from the precipitation. With my 32 oz mug of coffee in
my hand, I eased up to the 65 mph speed limit and of course, pushed on the
'cruise control' and sipped on my coffee.
We drove about an hour or so (100 miles east of Lexington) down the
road on 'auto pilot'. I was listening to on of the Christian radio
stations, while the wipers were slappin ill-timed to the music. Dawn was
sleeping in the back seat, and my son (in law) was half-asleep in
the front passenger's seat.
The roadway only looked wet, and felt solid under my wheels. Then it
happened. I felt the steering wheel get loose. I suddenly realized that we
lost all traction. The rear of the car began moving to the right. We were
on what the truckers called 'black ice'. It simply looks wet and you can't
see this ice on the road, but it most definitely is there.
At traumatic times such as this, everything seems to go in slow motion. I
call this effect 'Mental Slowdown'. Never-the-less, I began having a
silent , mental conversation with myself. As the car began sliding to
the right, the talk went something like this:
If I turn the wheel to the keft, I'll spin us "clean to West Virginia."
If I turn my wheels to the right like my driving teacher told me, I'll
slide into the guard rails and probably total my one year old car.
So what. I'll turn my wheels to the right but I must watch my
coffee, I don't want to spill it.
Funny how some of the most ridiculous thoughts come to mind when you get
into a stressful situation. I eased the wheel to the right and the rear of
the car actually started to come back, but to my dismay, the car didn't
stop sliding. It continued on the other way. My silent conversation
continues:
There are concrete culverts in the median strip. I could one of them.
Ahhhh! Grip the coffee!
So I eased the wheel around to the left and, what a relief to feel the car
come back.... BUT!
ooooooOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! Don't spill the coffee!!
As the car started back to the right again, Dawn awakened and I realized
that the car was going to keep going this time. Dawn let out a blood
curdling scream that made me want to find some earplugs and put my hair
back in place. Now, I could have done without that!
My conversation goes on:
Dawn, try not to distract me. I am trying to drive,,,, even if it
is sideways.
Uh Oh! We're heading toawrd the median strip,,, sideways! No, the road!
No, the median strip!
Oh, don't try to keep track, just don't spill the coffee!!
OHHH! We're dropping into the median! And still spinning.
I sure hope we don't turn over,,, It is kind of steep, ya know!
Hey, we're going up the other side. I think we're going to go into the
oncoming lanes. Looks like I might be meeting someone I don't really care
to meet right at the moment. Especially under these circumstances.
Well, We're going backwad up the other side now. Let me look over my shoul
der and check the traffic.
How 'bout that! No traffic!
I kept an eye on the west bound lanes looking for other cars until we came
to a stop. We were on the inner shoulder of the west-bound lanes. I was
looking down the oncoming lanes still looking for traffic.
Kaylon, who was quiet during this entire episode was the one to break the
silence by saying, "Thank You, Jesus!"
Dawn informed us that she saw the guarsrails pass us in the same direction
at least four times.
We spun at least four times, at 65 mph, on 'cruise control', and out of
control. We came to a stop and all was intact. Even my wits. You can't
get more blessed than that.
Now I was able to gather my thoughts. We hit absolutely nothing. I was
wonderful! The ride was very smooth and silent, like traveling on a cloud.
It was almost like sitting in my living room watching a film with the
sound turned off.
I took a sip of my coffee, which amazingly, was still in my cup. I
asked the kids if they were alright, and they were.
I was surprized that God would allowed a thing like this to happen, so I
silently asked, "Lord, Where Are You? Don't You see us down here? Don't
You know know what the weather is like down here? Don't You care about
your children who are in this car?
He, first reminded me that it was not His fault that I didn't check the
weather forecasts.
I was told that there may be some inclement weather, but I
didn't find out just how bad it was expected to be. I realized that it was
my fault. His Word says that we will reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7)
, and that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
It was then He reassured me with the words to a beautiful praise chorus
which goes like this:
He is here, Hallelujah! He is here, Amen!
He is here, Holy, Holy, I will praise His name again.
He is here, listen closely, He is calling out your name.
He is here you can touch Him, you won't ever be the same.
Then He gently reminded me that he was there and took us safely through
that obstacle course.
Even when the ride down the road of life gets rough, He is still there
with us. When He lives within us, He can't get very far away.
I realized then that He was absolutely there all the time. He was protect
ing us. He kept us from death. The truly unique thing is that He gave me a
song where I was saying, "yes, He is here with us."
He was building my faith with each line. This gav it more of an impoact on
me. I should have been realizing this from the begining; that He was in
deed with us. After all, we did pray as usual before we left home. Why
wouldn't He be with us (My driving isn't that bad)? Needless to
say, the words to that song ran through the recesses of my mind for the
remainder of the trip. We still had four hundred miles to go.
Sometimes we allow our surroundings to get in the way of our seeing our
Lord, but we don't have to. The Word tells us to "Seek ye first the King
dom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto
you." We must keep our eyes on Christ. When we do, our needs, no
matter what they are, will be supplied. When His angelss are encamped
about us, we will be protected even on the road.
We decided to continue on. We waited for semi trucks to go by, then we
crossed back over the median and onto the highway. Since I realized that
God wasn't going to bless stupidity, I travelled much slower.... And I
was singing, "He is here, Hallujah..."
Things went rather well through Charlestom, West Virginia, until we got on
into the higher altitudes of West Virginia while traveling north on I-79.
Just south of Clarksburg, WV, it started snowing. Within a few minutes it
was laying on the roadway, so we exited onto a side road and into a store/
gas station business.We got a little food to keep us going and waited
about a half an hour. The three of us discussed what we should do. I was
outnumbered. Dawn and Kaylon agreed that if we don't continue on, we might
not get there at all. So we chose to press on while I was singing, He is
here, Amen..."
Pulling back onto the roadway, we found that the snow is mostly 'slush'.
We continued on as did the snow. I thought, many times, of the higher
Appalachians which lay ahead of us, where the mountains are 2,000 - 3,000
feet in altitude and the winter storms are severe. The Lord continued to
remind me through the words of that chorus that "He is here" with
us. So we kept going.... And I sang.... "He is here, Holy, Holy....."
As we passed Morgantown, we started up into the higher mountains. The
weather was much worse here. Huge snow flakes dropping around us. The
roads are heavily covered with snow.
We continued on and I drove very carefully. Cars and trucks alike were
swiftly passing us. Many of the vehicles were sliding and occasionally we
would see a car which had slid off the roadway and into trees or guard
rails. As we travelled further, we found vehicles stuck in the snow which
was, by this time, getting very deep.
I was somewhat relieved as we passed the Maryland State line because I
knew we had only one hundred miles yet to our destination. I wondered,
though, how we would make it through the worse part of this trip. I was
getting quite weary so I exited at the first rest stop. Again, I asked
the kids if we should stay there or keep going. Again, they gave me the
same answer, "We must keep going!"
I couldn't quite understand why God would want us to go on in this. But
it was not for me to know at that time. I would find out when God was
ready to tell me. I knew though that there was a purpose for all this.
We had travelled 300 miles safely in the storm, but the fact that I knew
the reputation of this area. It was treacherous in the winter. Even so,
I had to continue on because I knew that God's will was important. He
felt that it was important enough to bring us this far and He was not
going to stop now. He would keep us through it all.
Once again we start down the ramp to I-68. The road is far worse than
when we got off. We were at the rest stop for only about 10-15 minutes
but the snow was now falling so hard that, even with the snowplows and
the salt trucks, it kept getting deeper and deeper. About every one
hundred yards there was a car or truck wrecked. The thought of us getting
through the last ninety miles was looking far more impossible, but I knew
... "He is here, Holy Holy..."
There were many times when we would slide, but I was able, by the grace
and power of God, to straighted it out and keep going.
Several times the car slid to the side. It didn't swing around to one
side or the other, but directly to the side. There is no way, that I am
aware of, to counter such a slide, but the car, seemingly by itself, would
come back to the middle of the road. This was definitely by the power of
Living God... and I sang, "I will praise His name again..."
During this last hundred miles we had to drive no more than 20 miles per
hour. Most of the time we crept along at 15-20 mph.
By the time we reached Frostburg, MD., the storm was at its worst. We
watched as vehicles would slide and crash. We passed many trucks which
were stopped on the mountain side, unable to reach the top. One mountain
in particular had nearly seventy-five vehicles on it's slopes. I watched
as a man slid into the median guardrail. A young teenage girl was able to
get her car stopped in time, but the semi truck behind her was not that
fast. He ran into her little car and pushed her on up the road.
Again, I questioned God, "Why are we here? Why wouldn't You just let us
stop at a rest area where we would be safe? Why do You want us out here in
all this danger?" We must still wait for the answers.
By the way, God always answers our prayers. There is
never and unanswered prayer.
1. He will say yes you can have what you want now;
2. Yes, you can have what you want, but not now. You will wait for it;
3. Yes, you can have it but there are a few stipulations; or
4. No, I don't want you to have it because: "you want it for the wrong
reasons"; or "you don't know what you're asking for."
Continue Chapter Six
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