As far as springs go, this one has been almost all lion and very little lamb. If it was just a matter of too little sunshine and not enough showy flowering trees and tulips, it wouldn't be that bad.
Unfortunately, instead of a season that normally exemplifies rebirth and new life, this spring has been identified with death and destruction. An unprecedented number of tornadoes have swept across the heartland and southern states, leaving small towns and big cities decimated and lives forever altered. Even with advance warning, many people have had nowhere to hide against the incredible fury of EF5 tornadoes. I cannot imagine the terror they must have experienced as these storms bore down upon them.
This past Sunday an EF5 tornado ravaged Joplin, a city of 50,000 located in the southwest corner of Missouri. Most accounts of the storm reported an enormous tornado -- anywhere from a half to a full mile across. The funnel cloud was on the ground for roughly twenty minutes, carving a six-mile path of destruction into the neighborhoods and landscape of Joplin. One hundred and twenty-two people were killed and 232 people are still unaccounted for. It is the eighth deadliest tornado in US history.
My family took a lot of road trips when I was in grade school. We usually headed west to visit an aunt and uncle who lived in Salt Lake City. So I imagine on one trip or another, I have driven through Joplin, although I honestly can't remember. I'm sure I don't know anyone who lives in Joplin. But on Sunday, even though I wasn't aware of it at the time, I did know someone who was staying overnight in Joplin.
Unbeknown to me, my sister-in-law, R, was staying in a hotel on the eastern edge of the city. R and three of her friends, Harley biker chicks, were on their way to Austin, Texas, and Joplin was the first stop on their motorcycle road trip. They had just checked in to their hotel and were relaxing at the indoor pool, sipping margaritas, when the tornado sirens sounded. The hotel staff rushed them into the laundry room where they rode out the storm. Thankfully they were on the periphery of the tempest and their hotel, and their Harleys, escaped unscathed. A few trees around the hotel were sheared in two, but that was the extent of the damage.
I am very thankful that R and her friends were safe in the midst of this incredibly intense storm.
There is no rhyme or reason as to why a tornado destroys one house, yet leaves the house next door untouched. The whims of nature are unfathomable.
Some people spend much time debating the merits of a God who allows unbearable suffering and heartbreaking loss. "If your god is so powerful," they rail, "why does he let children be ripped from their parents grasp and swept away in the winds of the storm?"
Why does He indeed?
I don't know. I don't even pretend to know.
What I do know is that on Sunday, R and her friends were in the midst of the storm and, in His sovereign power and grace, God spared them from harm. Thanks be to God.
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