We are OK after the tornado

I have had a couple of people ask if we are ok. We are.

Last Friday evening an F3 tornado passed along the southern edge of Willmar, continuing east until it finally retreated back into the clouds. The closest it was ever on the ground to our home was about 5-6 miles away however there were also straight line winds that took out a lot of trees and buildings just south of us about a mile. This photo was taken by someone in the area and shows the twister in its early stages as it bears down on a farmsite.


As the tornado was on the ground we stood in the parking lot of a restaurant in Willmar watching it pass along the edge of town. It went within about 200 yards of our church. Here is a photo taken by a friend from the front door of our church, looking to the southeast. The big white building is the church's youth building just built a couple of years ago.

This tornado left an 8 mile path of destruction, completely destroying three homes, damaging several more, completely demolishing two turkey barns and damaging two others. It also went though a farm implement dealership and a mobile home dealership bending trailer home frames in half and throwing implements across fields. There was no loss of lives and no serious injuries.

We all experience tornadoes in our lives. Sometimes they are physical but more often they are emotional or spiritual. It is in these times we need to lean on God even more than we usually do. We have a church friend who lives right along the tornado's path. It took out his two neighbors homes leaving his mostly untouched. His home was covered in mud and debris but had no permanent damage. As our family joined a couple of others to help him with clean up on Saturday I thought of how, after the storm we were all in better shape than before. We worked together to get an unpleasant task done, building relationships, laughing and loving together. We all walked away from the experience better appreciating family, friends and the blessings God has given us.