Johnson 09-25-21

Posted

The Storm

The storm was coming. Storm clouds were coming in from the west. The air seemed to pop and crackle with electricity. Mama led us five children to the center of the living room in deep, fervent prayer asking God to look over us until the mighty storm passed.

She was always extra nervous and sensitive about bad weather because in 1938 a tornado had leveled her family home in Bulloch County and destroyed the home, livestock and the cotton and corn crop which was yet to be harvested.

Daddy was working out of town in Savannah and was seldom at home when those pop-up storms suddenly came our way out of the clear, blue skies without warning. Mama took special care of us while daddy was away.

He was our family weatherman. Back in his boyhood days, there was no long term weather forecast. When a storm cloud made up, you had very little time to decide if it could be just a passing shower or a major summer storm with thunder, lightning and high wind along with torrential rainfall.

One of the men who worked beside daddy on the farm once bemoaned about the fact that he longed to go to the revival at his church but had to work in the fields that day.

It was a beautiful, cloudless day with blue skies above and the warmth of the sun bearing down on them.

It was a beautiful, cloudless day with blue skies above and the warmth of the sun bearing down on them.

Daddy and his sidekick worked steady for the next 30 minutes, plowing the cotton field. Suddenly, daddy heard distant thunder and saw dark, cumulus clouds quickly forming in the west. Daddy began to see the signs of bad weather coming in. He held old Dolly up from taking another step. The old mule snorted and shook the dust and sweat from her exhausted body. She was more than ready to take a needed rest.

Daddy swiftly called to his sidekick and advised Joe to head for the barn and put his mule up.

“That cloud is coming fast. We’ll get good and soaked before we get there,” dad said/

Against all odds, God had looked down on old Joe that day with not a cloud in the sky and allowed him to go to church and attend the revival.

Mama was now like a mother hen protecting her chicks. The storm was now upon our little bungalow and we drew even closer to mama’s outstretched arms.

The wind roared and the rain beat relentlessly on the windows and rooftop. Thunder and sharp spears of charged lightning continually shook and assaulted the rafters; and the storm raged on.

Occasionally the wind would pause and a moment of unexpected silence would follow and mama would thank God for a break in the weather.

There was nothing we could do except be patient and wait until the storm passed. In time, our household returned to normal. A ray of sunshine came through mama’s living room curtains and we realized that with mama’s prayers, and God’s abiding grace, the storm had finally passed.