I love a good storm. I really do. I have been in hurricanes and tornados and really impressive thunderstorms and blizzards. The only drawback to a good storm is that sometimes there is damage. Sometimes people die. You hate to see people suffer because of a storm. Sometimes they bring it on themselves. When I was a teen, a developer bought a long stretch of land along a peaceful river. He built luxury homes all along that stretch. River front. My father scoffed at the developer. "That's a flood plain! Only an idiot would buy there!" All those homes looked fine to me, and I could never remember a flood right there. All the homes sold quickly, and it was a really nice neighborhood. And then two years later it flooded with the rain and snowmelt and several houses floated off and the rest were damaged beyond repair. Sometimes people are just foolish, but normally a storm comes and there is nothing you can do.

Last Thursday night and into Friday morning we had three tornados touch down in Northeast Ohio. Because no one was killed you didn't have calls for FEMA, no network live feeds, no aerial views shown on The Weather Channel, no crying mother standing outside a damaged home weeping that she hadn't seen Fluffy the cat since the storm. No, our storm ripped up a lot of corn and soybeans and a grape vineyard and a few outbuildings. Right around where I live there are lots and lots of trees. There are fewer trees now. Most of those trees are in residential neighborhoods, yet no one was injured. Typical of the people in this area, daylight found folks in their yards with chainsaws cutting up the fallen trees. Or they were walking over to their neighbors and helping them cut their trees and branches or helping with nailing plywood over smashed windows. Debris in the streets was pulled aside in case emergency vehicles needed to pass. Power was out over a wide area and so people were sharing what they had. Grills were preparing feasts from freezers that were not working. All the businesses were closed, but folks had supplies. Weather around here is always kind of wild, so you have extra food and water. People sharing what they have. Democrat, Republican, black Asian, white. No one was going to go hungry, no one was going to suffer. And it was all going to be done without government aid or media coverage.

And, of course, I slept through the entire stormy night. The next day people were walking around bleary eyed by four in the afternoon because they had not slept the night before. I never heard a thing.

Mankind believes we have answered all the questions. Mankind believes we have created a government that can meet the needs of the people. Mankind believes we have come to the point that we have no need of God. And then a disaster comes along and mankind realizes that there are still some questions to be answered. Mankind sees that government can become overwhelmed in a heartbeat. Mankind will finally acknowledge God, but only to damn Him and curse His name. 

We are foolish to think we have come to a point in our evolution that we are superior. We have gone backward into our sinful natures. Evolution of the species is a myth. Society has devolved. 

And then a tornado rips through a community. People start their day by reaching out to their neighbors. Pastors from the four churches in their community walk the streets, lending a hand, calming a frightened child, gathering people together in a yard to pray with them and give thanks that there were no deaths. A priest, a Baptist minister, a Lutheran minister and a Methodist minister, offering comfort and peace. Not trying to build up their churches, but answering the call of their community.

Is mankind finished. Probably. But people, on the other hand, are doing pretty well. The good folks don't make the news. The good folks are not looting. The good folks are not trying to pressure government to take care of them. No, the good folks are helping one another. The good folks are working hard. The good folks are letting messengers of God to put an arm around a shoulder and pray. The good folks have not forgotten God, the good folks do not feel they are better than their neighbor, the good folks are ready to meet the day without government help. 

I love a good storm. I really do.