Our Spirit Will Not Be Broken: Voices from the April Storms

[Jessica's Story]
by Jessica Pritchett

Voices of the Storm
by Jane Ann Baggett, age 10

They are the voices of the storm
They speak of death
They speak of suffering
They speak of loss
They are the winds that surround us
That hurt us
They swirl and twirl as they deliver their bad news
They are the voices of the storm

Randy's Story [4/27/2011]- please take this with a sense of humor and recognize God's influence
by Randy Robbins on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 1:00pm

April 27, 2011 & January 23, 2012
by Terri Robinette

Making a Difference
by Robert Daniel

On April 27th, 2011, our state suffered the most wide-spread weather destruction in its history. Over 150 of our citizens lost their lives and thousands were left homeless as perhaps the worst outbreak of tornadoes in our nation’s history swept through Alabama. My company, One Stop Environmental, LLC was privileged over the next three months to participate in the clean-up. I witnessed many people “making a difference” in communities throughout our state. Again and again I saw our team members go out of their way to provide support to the people hurt by the storms. We had people walk up to us in tears thanking us for making a difference in their neighborhood. We had people approach our team members in restaurants and want to pay for their meals. We of course declined, but the connection we felt with these hurting people made us want to work that much harder for them. We were working on a road in Jackson County, Alabama where 19 people died. These neighbors who had lost so much seemed to be reaching out to us with as much care and concern as we were trying to give to them. Something humorous happened on that road. There was a day when the clouds came in and a storm was brewing. Some of the neighbors walked up to us and they had bricks in their hands. We looked at them and wondered to ourselves what this could be about. Then they smiled, handed us the bricks, and suggested that we put them in our pockets. They said they wanted to make sure that we did not blow away. To me it is amazing that in the middle of such a tragedy, people who have lost so much can still care so much about others and keep a sense of humor.

We were hoping to make a difference for the hurting people of this tragedy, and I hope that we did. They also made a difference in our lives by the strength and spirit with which they faced this catastrophe in their lives.

The Invasion
(April 27, 2011)
by Jane E. Allen

Giant dark invaders
swooped down toward
southern towns and cities
    spreading wide webbed wings,
    twisting crooked tails.
Raging wild winds
snatched up animals, homes,
foliage, cars--humans
    erasing landscapes,
    sending souls to graves.

    A day of horrendous images and
          life revelations.

Riches Among the Rubble
by Renate Harder

Tuscaloosa: April 27, 2011
by Kathleen Toppins

There was no rain.
There were heavy clouds
dark and fat.
Winds pushing you down
till
you
could
not
breathe.
But there was no rain.

Nothing had color.
The lights had gone out
And candles were shoved
into corners to try and replace
the fluorescence.
But the candles dripped onto the wood
and we missed the hum of electricity.

The phone rang.
I couldn't sleep because
wood splinters and bent metal
were shoved into my head
left over from houses that left
without a trace.
And I wanted to sleep.
To stop thinking of the faces
on the pages of newsprint
and the people who didn't call back.
But as soon as I would drift,
the phone would ring.

Leviathan
by Malia Marie Drummond

Is this how Odysseus felt?
Seeing Scylla and Charybdis united as one.
I watch the world around me melt.
The sky is a maelstrom; the clouds are snakes.
They’ve blotted out the sun.
The earth beneath me shakes.
I’m ascending now. My eyes turn to Heaven.
Has the Prince of the Air won?
April 27, 2011.
From above I see the ruined temple.
God’s Promised Land undone
Before today life seemed so simple.
When will salvation come?
The angels tell me now that help has come in.
For my family they built a home.
And I smile as a tear does fall; they survived this Leviathan.

After the Tornadoes
by Barry Marks

I dreamed God showed up wearing a t-shirt under
His Osh Kosh's with his 800 number peaking out
like any plumber He was an hour or so late
but I think that was about me

this being Alabama Jesus was with him
same t-shirt and overalls
but don't worry Grandma
I understand Hillel is His helper on calls in
Tel Aviv and Williamsburg

anyway he had the biggest tool belt I ever saw and
when I reached for my checkbook
He smiled shook His head
pointed to a valve seat
and handed me a wrench

Who Calms the Storm?
by Jessie M. Jones

Suddenly, callously the storm came!
Swiftly it approaches, little forewarning
Winds fiercely, brutally, angrily, destroying,
Leaving destruction, devastation, damage, mourning.

Oh, the despair, the misery of violent storms.
Furious rain, hail, lightning and thunderstorm!
Bringing with it fear, panic, and horror.
Into the depth of the soul it borers.

Then who can calm this livid storm?
A tempest knowing the direction it travels.
Contorting possessions like an atomic bomb!
Leaving everything in its path unraveled.

Ah, I know who can calm the storm.
One who is the Alpha and Omega,
One who is the Healing Balm,
One who can rebuke the winds and the sea,
The One who died for you and me.

Whatever the storm of your life maybe,
Weather it through prayer and faith you see,
He will deliver you from whatever gale,
Because His Blood has delivered you from death and hell!

Like the Water
by George Sawaya

In the morning, when you wake and set out
Upon the world, you think,
Or somewhere know far inside your head,

A truck might catch you in its grill
As you’re hopping from a curb, or your chest might seize in
Upon itself, an injured heart collapsing like a cavern,

Or, even, during your commute you might
Hit a slick spot and careen through barriers
Down a hill.

But then there is the weather.

What are we to make of God's great finger
Stabbing at the earth? The hoary drill
Tracing wild, esoteric letters

Through soil and businesses and homes -
Through lives - Casting the weight of heavy-hearts
Like paper dolls into the feral gales?

Must we say, "Oh, well"? Rebuild and forget?
Or beat our heads with closed fists
And remember?

Our strength is not the shoulder drives the nail,
Nor the hand that guides the saw. It's something simple, something
Clearer: Water – we remember – when parted or disturbed,

Comes so quickly back together.

Water, (whether it drops in rain or runs, or is shredded as it falls
By weather we did not recall when climbing in our cars
Or stepping from the curb) remembers, always, the shape it had before it all.

And so we drive the hammer, guide the saw, beat our
Temples bloody, knuckles raw against our skulls,
And howl as we remember:

Not the grey-wind's ferocious spool, but the faces;
Not the knotted timber missiles, but the tears; not the castles
We once built only to have torn asunder, but the will

We found to piece them back together.

And, like water, we resume a shape which (though not quite whole)
Might be something of the same as it was before that April day
When our dimensions

Changed.

WE KNEW IT WAS COMING
by Henry L. McShan

We knew it was coming. Every television station in the area was broadcasting the impending horrific terror, the ‘April Storms.’ To think, at other times we had often sat listening and wondering how technology and machinery could predict such an awesome spectacle as were so bluntly being displayed and warned in big bold colors the intensity that the storm clouds presented. For sure, the whirlwinds were upon us! However amazed we are at the wonderful ubiquity of the meteorologists, Doppler, the storm Trackers, and all the weather gadgetry, many praises should go out to those inspired, educated geniuses the weather people!

We knew it was coming by that Sunday before last Pastor’s sermon where he preached on God’s anger and why God uses his wrath. The Pastor expounded emphatically his lecture throughout different passages of scriptures. Some in particular, Psalm 55:9, ‘Before your pots can feel the thorn, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.’ Isaiah 29:6, ‘Thou shall be visited of the Lord of host with thunder, and with earthquakes, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.’ Jeremiah 23:19, ‘Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone fourth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.’ Hosea 8:7, ‘For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.’ Zechariah 7:14, ‘But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not.’ All these scriptures share one thing in common, ‘bad weather!’ The good thing is, is that God own these wraths, and he is in control!

There is no doubt; we knew it was coming! Using the scripture as today’s prophecies or predictors maybe in question by a lot of people. You know like ‘that was then,’ but no one can deny that these things have not happened before, and don’t forget God is eternal. The twitch of that aching toe, the feel of that old arthritic joint, and the rumble of the domestic animals all give some indication that something is coming. Moreover, lets not forget the days of Noah, ‘Because of the wicked imaginations of their hearts, God sent the floods.’ If we could only see that if we stop sometimes and look up to God repenting of our sins, some of the angry wraths could be averted. Jesus gave us ‘Be Still,’ as much faith as a mustard seed; we can have what we want. I think no one wants those weather havocs or wars. Just look around you, you see things and you know the end results of some of those things. Turn to God and do that which is right and live, start repenting. No one may go out as Jon the Baptist preaching ‘Repent, Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand,’ but you can show that we know what’s coming of these actions! However, go down to that basement, hit the floor in the right area, cover up in the bathroom, and remember ‘we knew it was coming!”

The End.

Incongruity
by Punky Burwinkle, April 29, 2011

Westminster Abbey,
The Tower of Big Ben --
A Prince of England
Is getting married again.

The bride is beautiful,
Her name is Kate.
The groom is Prince Will
Who waits there at the gate.

Thousands of people
Wave from the street.
Everyone's happy
The new couple to greet.

But here in our State
There is no festive air.
We are reeling from shock,
Our innards laid bare.

Our people are hurting,
Over 200 dead;
Destruction and ruin
From tornadoes we dread.

We watched on tv
As they tore through the towns.
Black clouds overhead
Funnels reaching the ground.

The wind swirling and twirling,
Trees toppling, poles snapping,
Houses collapsing, cars and roofs flying,
Arms around loved ones are wrapping.

In Merrie Old England flags are waving,
People cheer as royals pass
In Alabama tornadoes howled
Mowed down our towns like so much grass.

Life was sucked out of the houses,
Clothes and beds flew through the air,
Along with photos, dolls and rings,
Boards and bricks and granny's chair.

Survivors climb out of the basement,
Half their house was blown away.
There's nothing left upon their street;
They sob and stare in great dismay.
Where once were houses, stores and trees,
There's nothing left but rubble.
Debris and bodies strewn about,
A peaceful life burst like a bubble.

In Britain's joyous merry-making
Far across the ocean wide,
A glass is raised in great excitement -
The Prince has kissed his Princess bride.

But here our State of Alabama
Holds little joy for lives so shattered,
Brief visits by the deadly storms,
So many things destroyed that mattered.

It seems so very strange to me -
They cry in joy, we cry in pain.
Both start a path to build new lives.
They celebrate, we mourn again.

Tornado
by Laura K. Wagner

When you sweep around us,
Encircle us in the ring of your arms,
It is with a terrible indifference,
With closed eyes
And measured breaths
That come out ragged despite your efforts.
It is a dance that you try to perform with grace.
You try to tuck the chaos under your skirts,
But it is revealed in flashes with each rhythmic twirl,
Pulsing in beat to the cadence of your steps.
You walk on the balls of your feet,
Leap and touch down in a pattern
That is utterly beyond your control.
You bury all uncertainty,
Push it deep out of reach.
You are determined that
No one will see your hesitation,
Not even you.
Though you dare not open your eyes.

I Prayed and I Cried
by Latisha Ali
Hoover, Alabama

Speechless, I watched it on the news
Horrified it was coming here
Panicking as it got more near

Helpless, living on the third floor
Petrified at the alarm sound
No basement to hide underground

Hearing reports that many died
As it passed, I prayed and I cried

That Day
by Pat Bentley

Warnings came days before,
Life as we knew it would be no more.
The clouds rolled in from west to east,
People prepared for the beast.
The winds blew through Alabama towns
Many woke and nothing found.
A child’s cry and a mothers hug,
Many looked but could only shrug.
250 or more paid the price,
As Mother Nature cut a slice.
The sun came out the next day,
People realized the price they paid.
Alabama and Auburn chants no more,
Together as one forever more.
The hand of God touched many that day,
Knowing full well the price some paid.
One may ask why I was spared,
The answer is that God cared.

To my Mother and Aunt Iva:
We miss you so much – nothing on this earth will ever be the same!

The Storm
All our love, Dianne Harrison August, 2011

I’ll never forget that horrible day
When the storms rolled in and you were carried away
Devastation so vast it couldn’t be real
Soon we would learn you both had been killed

We had listen to weather all through the day
Been told the storms were headed your way
We all called to warn you to get somewhere safe
But you said don’t worry, trust God and have faith

It was daybreak before they would let us come in
They said you’d been found by a neighborhood friend
Our emotions were raw as we rushed to your side
You were still on the ground in the place where you died

Your bodies were covered – that’s all they could do
So we sat there and waited for help to get through
Finally they came after waiting all day
They made make-shift stretchers and took you away

I looked all around me, everything gone
Nothing was left of your earthly home
I cried and I prayed, Lord how can this be
When a peace and your calm washed over me

God reminded me He’s in the midst of the storm
That He’s always with us, we’re never alone
We’re not promised tomorrow or even today
It’s the Lord that giveth and taketh away

And while our sorrow and grief is still strong
I know you’re happy in your heavenly home
Praising the Lord with your family and friends
Awaiting the day till we all meet again