Lessons from a Storm

 

This is the cross that sat atop the steeple of St. John Lutheran Church in New Minden, IL.  It came down as a result of the F4 tornado that passed through town around noon on Sunday November 17th. During cleanup operations the cross was found crumpled on the ground.  It is bent but not broken.  The center of the cross caves inward.  You can almost picture the face of Jesus in the bulge where the cross bars meet.  It was on another cross nearly two millennia ago that the Son of God absorbed all unrighteousness into Himself as He hung cursed on the tree.  Jesus cried out in anguish:  “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me!”  Here Jesus experienced what it was like to live without the providential arm of God the Father.  Here he tasted hell in all of its fury.  Shortly after He cried out again.  “Father, into Your hands, I commit my spirit”.  Though forsaken for a moment Jesus entrusted Himself into the hands of His heavenly Father, confident that He would live, even if He died.  Three days later He was raised bodily from the dead.  He lives nevermore to die.  In Him we Christians live, move and have their being.  In Jesus all things are held together.  Jesus lives. Because He lives He says that you will live also.

Some thirteen homes in New Minden suffered damage from the storm.  Most face the daunting task of rebuilding their homes and sorting through what possessions are salvageable.  Vera Mills helped her 102 year old mother,Loretta Weihe, reach the basement safely. There they heard the snap. crackle and pop of the twister hitting their house.  They heard the loud bang the chimney made as it crashed to the floor.  Down the road Ray and Eunice Hausler reached the bottom step going into the basement when the storm carried off their home.  All are incredibly grateful to be alive.

Pastor Jacob Mueller, the oldest son of Rev.Tim and Dawn Mueller put everything in perspective regarding the tornado.  The path of the storm was headed straight for the crowded section of the village. Then it suddenly turned north and east where it heavily damaged a convenience store and four homes before crossing Highway 127 to the church. Pastor Jacob Mueller noted that it was so much like God to avert the suffering of people by directing it to His home, the church.  No doubt the injures and fatalities would have been greater if it the storm remained on its original course.

Look again at the recovered cross from the steeple.  Bent but not broken. It looks like someone punched it in the center.  Now the head looks down with arms eager to embrace. At Golgotha on the tree of the cross, Jesus suffered death and abandonment so that you and I may live and never be forsaken.  The members of St. John and people of New Minden have this in metal on the cross recovered from the fallen steeple.  Thanks be to God for His mercy and grace!