Tornadoes gone but sorrow left behind

What words can I come up with for today?s column? There are words for what I?m feeling right now: sorrow, sadness, loss, shock, dismay. But no words can really describe the feeling of seeing our county in ruins, of learning of those good people who lost their lives in Friday?s storms.

In the wake of the devastation and loss of life caused by the tornados that ripped through our county, many of us must find ourselves at a loss for words.

I?ve heard it said time and again, ?You just never know from one minute to the next what will happen. The future is not ours to see.? And that?s very true. But still, when something like this occurs, the tendency is to look for reasons, to wonder why. But the fact is, nature answers to no one in this world, and I?m not so sure these kind of tragedies happen at the direction of someone in the next world.

It?s always seemed odd to me that natural disasters are referred to as ?acts of God? in legal terms. Somehow I just can?t believe the almighty suddenly, and arbitrarily, decides to end someone?s days. I do believe He is all-knowing. I believe He knows when our time will come, but somehow I can?t believe He chooses that time for us. It has been said His eye is on the sparrow and He sees it when it falls. Though evil ones have suffered His just wrath, I believe the death of an innocent touches His heart as it does ours.

I believe He created a world that is ever-changing, where the oceans, the earth and the atmosphere, and even our moon, interact in a wonderful but unfathomable fashion to create an intrinsic environment that is, in and of itself, that state we call nature. Admittedly that environment isn?t always benevolent.

All across the world the destructive side of nature makes itself known. It shows its elemental power as earthquakes bring down our most magnificent structures, tsunamis come ashore and wipe out thousands of lives, volcanoes erupt and storms rage.

As I flew over Warren County yesterday taking photographs as part of my job, not one of the most pleasant aspects, but a necessary one, I saw first-hand the devastation and destruction that can result from a chance combination of meteorological phenomena. As I looked at the tornados path I realized how easy it would be to ascribe the damage to some angry, sentient being.

But though we sometimes speak of ?mother nature?s wrath,? I don?t believe we should attribute human characteristics to nature. Nature is just that, nature. It is a force, not a personality. It does not consciously decide to do us harm, and I think we all realize that.

But we also know that doesn?t make suffering the loss of a loved one any easier. Nothing really helps except the sure knowledge we will see them again someday. It?s hard to understand how someone could knowingly leave themselves bereft of even that comfort.

I thought of something my friend Kay Ramsey said to me in the face of another recent tragedy, the death of Central Church of Christ youth minister Matt Winkler.

?Prayer works,? Kay said during a prayer meeting called to help local church members deal with his passing. And when I talked to him yesterday, Gov. Bredesen said his prayers, and the prayers of all Tennesseans, are with us. That?s good to hear. We need those prayers. We need those kind words.

In the coming weeks and months, those will be the most important words of all. You?re right Kay, prayer works, and thank God for that.

Charlie Johnson is news editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].