I have mentioned that one of the twisters seemed to come to the fence around my parents land and then turned east to head down Pepper Road, taking out homes, barns and whatever else was in its way. One of the homes that was absolutely blown away belonged to Wade and Debra Sue Pepper. From a quick drive and look around the area one day it appeared that the walls of three very bare inside rooms was all that was left standing after the storm went past. No roof, no outside walls, no porch, just some lonely walls, beat up by the wind and void of any family possessions was was it looked like. It was Wade's farm machinery and trucks that I mentioned earlier that looked as if they had been tossed around like toys.
I saw Wade and Debbie when we went into town on Saturday to find some breakfast at the same place they were. We greeted one another and spoke for a moment. Frankly I was at a loss for words to say to folks that had just lost every material possession. I was paying attention though, because I knew these folks. They are good people and have family roots here. I noted the bit of a tear in Debbie's eyes even while she smiled with Wade and spoke. No self-pity, no victims here. Wade said he wasn't sure what they were going to do, but they would do something. And they all kept smiles on their faces.
I saw Wade and Debbie again on Sunday. They were right where you would expect them to be, at worship. There were no lights at the building on Jones Road since the power was still off, but the windows were large. There was no microphone working, not any powerpoints on that Sunday morning, but Christians were gathered to give glory to God and the Peppers were right there in the middle of it.
Here's the deal though. Let me tell you what I've been leading up to. New Testament Christians worship the Lord on the Lord's day. We sing, even if our hearts are heavy. We pray, because there is no one better to talk to. We praise God when the preacher preaches truth (and Norm Webb Jr. did that morning). We eat the Lord's Supper every single Lord's day because we are proclaiming His death until we see Him coming back again. And New Testament Christians give back to God of what God has blessed them with. We do that because we are Christians.
The Peppers were there to worship God at that building on Jones Road that Lord's day morning and just by chance I happened to sit in front of them. They did worship. They welcomed me, a visitor, and they chatted in friendly fashion. They sang and prayed and they ate the body and blood of Jesus. With all the destruction and fear that had blown through that community just three days before, I was thinking, the contribution's going down today. I don't know if it did or not. I do know, as the plate was passed as it is every Lord's day morning in that place, before I looked away, I saw something that brought a tear to the corner of my eye that saw the act. I saw a man, with his wife beside him, who had just lost his house, and business, and all his material goods in this world... when the plate was passed I saw him reach for his wallet to give.
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