Her name was Eloise. As she rose up out of the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico she sent before her a wall of water sixteen feet high and winds of one hundred and twenty five miles an hour. Just hours earlier it had been predicted that this hurricane would hit land closer to Louisiana and as a category 2 storm, but a sharp turn to the northeast and a growing intensity sent her to Panama City, Florida as a category 3.
It was September 23, 1975. We were living in Enterprise, Alabama, about 90 miles from the coast. Like most of the residents there we weren’t worried about the storm as we went to bed the night before. Mom was in the hospital because of a diseased gall bladder and dad kept making the commute from the hospital out to the house to check on us kids. He had gone early on the 23rd to be with mom when the news came out that Eloise’s path would take her directly over us and the wind and rain had already begun. The electricity went out first and then the phone lines so there was no communication. Four children from the age of sixteen down to five years old were sitting in the house watching as the pine trees in the front yard would bend over and touch the ground with their tops. Sitting on the sofa holding my dog I asked my brothers and sister what we should do. We all agreed that we should pray. So we did. On the highway officers stopped dad and said he couldn’t go on because of the dangerous winds, but he explained to them that his children were home and he was going there, they let him pass.
As the eye of the storm came over there was a very strange calm that came with it. We knew the calm was only temporary and that after the eye passed, the back wall of the storm would come, and then it would be over. So, we accepted the calm and kept praying. Soon the wind and rain began again but there was peace in our house and we knew we were ok. After the storm, the devastation around town was unbelievable. Trees that had stood for centuries were blown out of the ground, and roads were completely blocked from the debris. Every chain saw in town was busy and every person who was able was doing their part to clean up.
I was recently reminded again of Eloise and the devastation that storms in our lives can bring, and the most important thing I can tell you is this. Teach your children to pray. When they can’t reach you they can still reach Jesus. Jesus spoke these words in the gospel of John chapter 16 and verse 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
It was September 23, 1975. We were living in Enterprise, Alabama, about 90 miles from the coast. Like most of the residents there we weren’t worried about the storm as we went to bed the night before. Mom was in the hospital because of a diseased gall bladder and dad kept making the commute from the hospital out to the house to check on us kids. He had gone early on the 23rd to be with mom when the news came out that Eloise’s path would take her directly over us and the wind and rain had already begun. The electricity went out first and then the phone lines so there was no communication. Four children from the age of sixteen down to five years old were sitting in the house watching as the pine trees in the front yard would bend over and touch the ground with their tops. Sitting on the sofa holding my dog I asked my brothers and sister what we should do. We all agreed that we should pray. So we did. On the highway officers stopped dad and said he couldn’t go on because of the dangerous winds, but he explained to them that his children were home and he was going there, they let him pass.
As the eye of the storm came over there was a very strange calm that came with it. We knew the calm was only temporary and that after the eye passed, the back wall of the storm would come, and then it would be over. So, we accepted the calm and kept praying. Soon the wind and rain began again but there was peace in our house and we knew we were ok. After the storm, the devastation around town was unbelievable. Trees that had stood for centuries were blown out of the ground, and roads were completely blocked from the debris. Every chain saw in town was busy and every person who was able was doing their part to clean up.
I was recently reminded again of Eloise and the devastation that storms in our lives can bring, and the most important thing I can tell you is this. Teach your children to pray. When they can’t reach you they can still reach Jesus. Jesus spoke these words in the gospel of John chapter 16 and verse 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
No comments:
Post a Comment