It's November. We're thinking turkey not tornadoes. But this weekend there were some 68 tornadoes that didn't consult the calendar. From EF-2s to EF-4s, they left a swath of erased homes and devastated communities across the center of America.
Washington, Illinois was clearly one of the epicenters of the violence from the skies. And the pictures from there are all too familiar. Splintered neighborhoods. Residents trying to figure out which pile of rubble was their home. Oh - and what one reporter called "the good stuff."
Like Steve Bucher, who has no home address as of last night. He told CNN his attitude was "in the next minute and a half, we're either gonna be in heaven or we're going to be in the hospital - or we're going to walk out of here." Thankfully, they walked out safe. But minus pretty much everything else they had.
His next comment caused an anchorman to say, "Now that's character. That's strength."
Bucher said his wallet - with about a hundred dollars in it - had been upstairs when the twister hit. He knew it was gone. Later, a man came by and saw Bucher sifting through the rubble. When he asked if there's was anything he could help look for, it was the wallet.
Which the neighbor managed to find! Bucher said when he opened it, he knew "God has a sense of humor." There was one dollar left in his wallet! He said, "The Lord left me one dollar!"
Believe it or not, he saw a message in the missing money. That the material stuff isn't what's important. It's the people. The lives. And the faith that sustains them.
There's something about a storm - whether it's meteorological or medical, marital or the money - that revalues everything.
When the drunk driver totaled our car and almost our family. When a sudden medical emergency almost took a loved one. When there was no money. I realized again that life is ultimately two lists.
The things that really matter. And the things that really don't. There can be "good stuff" in the bad stuff. If the loss of some "earth stuff" that ultimately doesn't really matter can cause us to "re-treasure" the lives that really do. Because our lists get mixed up, with the less important migrating to the "important" column - and pushing out what really lasts.
Of course, sometimes the storm takes one of our human treasures. A deep grief that a few are feeling in the tornadoes' tracks today - and so many are feeling in the wake of the Philippines typhoon.
I've been by the side of those who've said goodbye to someone they love. I've been the one saying goodbye.
But even there, you can recommit your heart and your time to those you have left. Having lost, you realize anew the "preciousness" of the ones you still have. Having grieved, you can offer yourself to be a channel of comfort to others who grieve. Having stood at the edge of this life, you can choose to live for what will matter beyond it.
The faith and resilience of tornado and typhoon survivors brought me back to that First Thanksgiving. As H.U. Westermayer observed: "The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these, who, nevertheless, set aside a day of Thanksgiving."
Giving thanks in the rubble. "Now that's character. That's strength."
It's obvious from that survivor's comments where a lot of that strength comes from. With an EF-4 monster bearing down on his house, he knew that if he died he was "gonna be in heaven."
I suppose that could be seen as a wishful hope. Or even spiritually arrogant.
But I'm familiar with that kind of confidence about my life after my death. Not some fingers-crossed hope. And certainly nothing based on me being good enough for a perfect God.
No, I'm only ready to face death's storm for one reason. In a word - Jesus. Because He died to remove what would keep me from God's heaven. The Bible says, "Nothing impure will ever enter" heaven (Revelation 21:27). That's me. That's all of us. Because - the Bible again - "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
I can't get into heaven with my sin. And "no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law" (Romans 3:20). There's nothing I can do that will get rid of my sin. But there was something Jesus could do. And He did. "When we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). And when I told Him I was pinning all my hopes on Him, He erased my sins from God's book. They won't be there on Judgment Day. I'll go to heaven, not because of what I did, but in spite of what I've done. Because of what Jesus did.
Jesus walked out of His grave. And proved He can give eternal life. "He who has the Son has life" (1 John 5:12). By His grace, I've got the Son. And the life only He can give.
So let the storm come. All death can do is blow me Home.
