Keeping Things in Perspective

The past week has been a wild and crazy ride. As everyone knows there were tornadoes that swept through Illinois from one end of the state to the other last Sunday. We were in church when the storm hit here, and I could hear the wind and rain, but had no idea just what was going on, how bad it really was and how wide spread it was. After service one of our members told us that a tornado had hit Washington, IL which is about an hour from us. Her mother lives there and she was quite worried, as anyone would be. We went to eat with them and while eating she was getting updates. Her mother was OK, but Washington was bad. I still did not realize just how bad this was until we got home and there were shingles off of our roof all over the yard and the storage shed in the back yard had been picked up, ripped off it's foundation and set back down a few feet off the foundation. Everything in the shed was thrown all over the place with much of it ruined. I was obviously upset about our roof, (which we have found out is damaged so severely that it will need replaced) but as my phone kept ringing and text messages kept pouring in from around the USA, I was beginning to get a picture of how wide spread this thing was. Brookport, IL was hit hard. This is where I lived when I met Libby and where we were married and lived for the first 7 months of our married life. We have many dear friends and some family in Brookport and around the area. First I heard that some friends were out celebrating her birthday and when they came home... there was no home to come home to. It was completely gone. Then I heard of another friend whose home was hit and damaged severely. Then another, and another. And then I got the call that a friend had just died from the injuries she suffered when her home took a direct hit. Suddenly, my roof did not seem all that important anymore. I turned on the TV and saw the destruction from all over Illinois and I realized just how blessed my family is. We are all safe and we have a roof over our heads... even if it had a few holes in it. When we keep things in perspective, we learn to see our blessings even in times of adversity.