Friday, June 12, 2009

Surviving The Storm

Instead of hearing the sweet birds sing outside my window today I'm hearing a cacophony of chain saws, power tools and men's voices. There is a lot of cleanup being done after a fierce storm blew through on Wednesday night.

Wednesday was a long day for me, so I asked Keith if he would mind if we went out for dinner. Of course he's always up for mexican food, so off we went...never knowing a storm was on the way.

After dinner we were on our way to pick up a prescription when the storm wall hit us. He turned into a grocery store parking lot just in time for a light pole to snap and come down. He parked next to a store building, yelled get out and we ran over to hunker down. We stood and watched (and I prayed out loud the entire time) as 2 more light poles came down, trees were uprooted, a part of a roof flew by, the grocery cart corrals came undone and went flying and even the hard top of a pickup bed flew by!

The photo shows the light pole and tree down in front of the Starbucks that we go to. Doesn't look so scary when looking at a picture, but it was awful to not be home during this.

Coming home there was a power line not totally down, but leaning, so we went a different way. Fences and trees were down everywhere. The tree between our house and the neighbor snapped up high and landed on their roof. I sat with the mom playing with her two little ones to help calm them down and Keith went on the roof with the guy so they could check for damage. Their roof ok, but the limb too big too move without cutting it in pieces.

This storm has been on my mind a lot the last 2 days, especially since yesterday morning the entire area was hit with torrential rains again. Lots of street flooding in Dallas and high water rescues. A tree across the street got struck by lightning and it's the strangest thing - it didn't burn, but there is a burn mark all down the side of the tree. Later in the day there was door bell ringing and all the neighbors getting together and comparing stories.

It made me think of how we are hearing so many stories of people not relating to their neighbors like they used to. Honestly I won't argue that as I feel it is true. But somehow I am a little more comforted knowing that in times of trouble we all still turn to each other for help and assistance.

And that's a good thing.

"Carry each other's burdens, and this way you will fulfill the law of Christ" - Galatians 6:2

6 comments:

Debby said...

I love storms but, like you, from in the comfort of my home. That sounds like a really scary one. I'm glad everyone is ok. About neighbors: we don't know ours well but they know a bit about us. When we brought our daughter home and took her for a walk in the neighborhood, our neighbors came out to see her and tell us they'd been waiting for her to get home! And one neighbor has tried to learn a little sign to "talk" to her. Pretty neat. Maybe the community is still alive and well in America?

Ginger said...

Wow! Incredible storm. We've been having a lot of rain this week with pop up thunderstorms. I like to see neighbors come together...refreshing in this day and age!

Stephanie said...

I am glad to hear you are ok!

LOVE, MERCY AND GRACE...GOD'S GRACE said...

There is something intriguing about storms.....but I'm like you, if I've got to experience a bad one, would much rather be in my home where at least there is a sense of safety.

Glad y'all were okay.

~Beth

Tales From My Empty Nest said...

What an amazing storm. Glad you were OK. Have a nice weekend. Love & blessings from NC!

valerie said...

I think that was the day we had a storm blow through while I was at camp. It was in the afternoon and I had just come back to the cabin from a short walk. All of the sudden it started pouring rain and thundering and lightning and kids came running like crazy into our cabin. Thankfully there wasn't any damage and the kids were all safe. There was a tree limb down outside our back door.
I'm glad you all were ok!