Tornado hitting home a blessing

[RosyDaisy]

First of, no, this isn't about Kelly Crawford. I am reading an ebook called "April 27, 2011: The Day My Life Changed" by Stacy Landry. This woman appears to be conservative mainstream Christian. Before the tornado hit and while the weather was calm, she sent her sons to help clean out the neighbors storm shelter. They get to the neighbor's house but never get into the storm shelter. They all (including the neighbors) just sit on the porch talking. Then the tornado hits critically injuring everyone. WTH didn't they go into the shelter?

Later in the book, she actually says that "God took devastating and turned into something good". What the actual fuck?? Sounds just like Kelly Crawford, doesn't it? This is how I see it. If she, her family, and everyone who were at the neighbors house had gotten their asses into the storm shelter, none of them would have injured.

As survivors of that day, my family took shelter immediately when the weather radio and sirens went off. I believe that is why we were spared. We used the common sense God gave to get out of harms way. Natural disasters are not blessing. To say that one is sheer lunacy! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad she and her family (and others injured that day) are alive.

I know I've posted things about that day. I guess you could say I'm traumatized by what happened that day. 2 people I knew died that day. The devastation and destruction was horrific. I wouldn't wish that on anyone let alone call it a blessing.

[uber frau]

It's a fairly common mindset in conservative Christianity; happy is the only acceptable emotion and everything is a blessing. It's a form of self brainwashing.

[RosyDaisy]

What's so strange is that the author isn't fundie. She is a divorced single mother who works in a traditionally male occupation. She never states what her occupation is, but alludes to it being a traditionally male one.

[doggie]

well if they died they could never have complained about the lack of a blessing. so you tend to only hear about the actual blessings.

[uber frau]

well if they died they could never have complained about the lack of a blessing. so you tend to only hear about the actual blessings.

You're forgetting that death is a promotion in Christianity. It's the ultimate blessing.

I don't put much stock in exteriors when it comes to judging who is or isn't fundie. I've seen too many ppl who are 95% fundie while maintaining a convincing appearance of normality (at least until they open theory mouths, anyway). It's very possible to hold a very black-and-white fundy worldview while dressing in normal clothes and holding down a normal job.

[Joan of Snarc]

I am still haunted by that day too, RosyDaisy. I don't think I could read a book about it. It honestly felt like the end of the world. The power went out about 11:30 in the morning. Trees and power lines were down everywhere by 12:30 p.m. -- five hours before the f5 went through. I was frantic to get home and every road into my neighborhood was blocked by downed trees.

As soon as the lightning and high winds and heavy rain stopped, though, men with chainsaws just appeared out of the mist. They just appeared everywhere in the mist revving their chainsaws like some kind of movie and started clearing those trees. It was amazing. I still had to ditch my car and run home because there was a utility pole blocking my road.

I never thought I'd see men in official-looking gear going from house to house in my neighborhood checking on everyone but by the time I got there, that's what I saw. Then as soon as the men were done with their chainsaws they got out the tarps and started covering roofs. We give men a lot of shit sometimes on here, but thank Spaghetti Monster for men with their chainsaws and tarps climbing all over roofs that day.

Thankfully, we were all okay and no trees fell on our house. Later that day, the f5 came through about three miles from my house. Because the power was out, it was quiet after the storm, except for the sirens, which went on all night. It was such a terrible sound. Then, for the next week, with no power, every morning we would gather around the battery-powered radio to hear the latest news. Was the nuclear plant going to melt down? Was the water supply still safe? We had no idea how many people were killed until we heard it on the radio a couple days later.

In one day, my life went from chauffering kids around, shopping, surfing the internet, cooking dinner, etc. to relying on a battery-powered radio for all news and information. Cell phone towers were destroyed and hardly anybody had a landline phone that didn't need power (the older, non-wireless kind.) We cooked three meals a day on the grill until we ran out of propane and then we cooked over the firepit until we could get out and find a propane tank, which was scarce, let me tell you.

Oh God, and the sound of generators. Every day more and more generators appeared in the neighborhood and they are so goddamn loud! Not that I wasn't thankful that my neighbors let us run an extension cord from our house to their generator so I could have a hot cup of coffee on day three of no power... but still. If I never hear another generator, it will be too soon. After we got power back, I saw the news of the royal wedding and the mission where the U.S. took out Osama bin Laden. I had no idea those things happened.

A couple months after the storms, I toured this neighborhood about five miles from my house:

On one house where the walls were still standing, but no roof, someone had spray-painted:

GOD SAVED SIX IN THIS HOUSE

Meanwhile several were killed in the houses around them. Aren't they speshul snowflakes to think God saved them while so many others died? It could have easily been me and my family. No rhyme or reason or purpose.

[RosyDaisy]

That's for sharing you're story, Joan! I'm so sorry for what you went through. It was a horrific day. We had 3 rounds of storms starting at ~5am that morning. Another round hit about ~11am, and the monster EF5 (which I think may be the one mentioned) hit only a few miles to my south. It was truly a horrific day. I'm so grateful that my family survived without a scratch. I prayed and thanked God for that, and said prayers for the injured, the dead, and their families. Then we went to work helping with the recovery effort. My SO was out in the field all day (he's a paramedic). I didn't realize the full scope of what happened across the rest of the state until we got power the next day.

My family and many survived because we were told about this event days ahead of time and we prepared. But, I can understand why people would say God saved them and thanked God for it. However, people like Kelly Crawford and the author of the book I mentioned took that to a whole other level by boasting how that day was a blessing. It's beyond offensive to say the things they said. People were hurt, killed, lost loved ones, and everything they own. And the icing on the cake? Those same people bitched about how long it took to get government assistance! So, government assistance is only ok, if one of God's speshul snowflakes needs it? KISS MY ASS YOU BAT-SHIT CRAZY LUNATICS!!!!

[RosyDaisy]

HOLY SHIT! Look what I found. This woman in KY is standing outside with a funnel could practically over her head and tries to prays for it to go away. Guess what, the town was hit anyway. Now see, most people would see something like that, run for cover and then pray.

OkNQGTUf4nQ

:oops: :wtf: :shock: :wtf: :angry-banghead: :angry-screaming: This video was taken on March 2, 2012. That was a different tornado outbreak than the one being talked about in this tread.