Back on 3/15 I blogged a bit about a tornado that just missed my mother and step-father’s home in S.C. Apparently, their particular area was the hardest hit in the county, which makes it all the more amazing their home didn’t get destroyed. They had many people come out to help with the initial removal of trees and debris that was scattered everywhere. The local CBS affiliate in Augusta, GA (right across the river) came out and interviewed the two of them last week as they were getting ready to weather another night of predicted heavy rains. You can view the video by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post. It will take a minute for the video player to load. The news segment is about 3-4 minutes long.

Now…go meet my folks!

WRDW-TV video clip

It’s late Saturday afternoon and I just got a call from my mom in South Carolina (click the picture for a better view of where) that they survived a near miss from a series of tornados that broke out in GA, SC, and other parts of the South in the U.S. today. They were spared serious damage to their own home while a church across the street suffered significant damage. My folks had several outbuildings on their property that were severely damaged, but their home is in pretty decent condition although they have no electricity.

This reminds me of several key points from our message series that we are currently in - LOST:

1. We live in a broken world
2. There is often a randomness that seems to make no sense, and it challenges our faith.
3. In these crisis moments, there are some who will see the hand of God and take comfort while others will blame God and turn from him.
4. In the end, we always have a choice about how we will view our circumstances and ultimately what we will do with them.
5. It reminds me of a wise proverb that goes like this, “Fear is looking at God through circumstances. Faith is looking at circumstances through God.”

I’m glad my folks are choosing to see their current circumstances through God. Please pray for the many across the south that have been devastated by the current series of violent storms.

Well, we awoke this morning to sounds of joy within the Doebler household. The words of hope and joy that dance in every child’s mind during the winter months of the school year came true today…”NO SCHOOL“. Before we moved here from South Carolina, Zach & Brandon were so excited about coming to a place where it snows frequently. Their enthusiasm was based on the fact that in SC, if snow is even PREDICTED, school is cancelled. In other words, there doesn’t even have to be snow on the ground for school to get cancelled. So coming to a “winter wonderland” like Peoria (did anyone just spew coffee on your computer screen after reading that last comment?), seemed like a dream come true for them. Sadly, they were unaware of a horrible invention called the snow plow. Until last year, they had not gotten a single day cancelled due to snow. Their excitement for snow has turned into something more like dread…..until you get a snow day. Then all is right in the world again.

We have readers on this blog not only here in Peoria, but in many places around the country as well. It would be fun to have some of you share where you are (Peoria included) and let us know the weather where you are, and if you have any favorite snow day memories. What do you do with a snow day? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go shovel the driveway. I hate snow days!