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Tornados, Floods, Leukemia, Strange Lights, Cancer, and the Pot of Gold

Written by: Doug Gorman

Article Overview: So what does all of this mean? These events started about 2 weeks ago and it has been one strange, difficult, and wonderful encounter after another. First off, we had strong storm cells move through my area in Franklin,...

Tornados, Floods, Leukemia, Strange Lights, Cancer, and the Pot of Gold

So what does all of this mean?

These events started about 2 weeks ago and it has been one strange, difficult, and wonderful encounter after another.

First off, we had strong storm cells move through my area in Franklin, Indiana (about 30 miles south of Indianapolis). A tornado went about 2 miles south of my house and hit a military base and the next town just south of us.

My brother is in the National Guard and was asleep the night the tornado hit as the tornado "jumped" over the soldiers sleeping barracks, knocked down a few buildings, and then tore into and did a lot of damage to the town of Edinburgh just east of the military base.

It is an amazing thing to watch nature's power. I stood on my front porch and watched that tornado and storm cell run it's path. I just prayed that no one would be killed and no one was. I thank God.

Two nights later we had a severe thunderstorm watch and it started raining and did not stop for over 24 hours. Basically, the storm front paused over us and just sat there down pouring everything that it could. Were I live, we received 10 inches of rain in 24 hours. The town just south of us, Edinburgh, received 11 inches in 24 hours (after being hit by a tornado 2 nights before). That is a state record for a 24 hour period of rainfall. Not a good record to have, especially with all of the streams, creeks, and rivers that run through this part of Indiana.

You wake up and see the sun and do not realize that anything has happened. I walk outside and notice helicopters, military, and news people going here and there.

I live on a an old county highway and it does not have a lot of traffic, most being from the college that is a mile north of me. But, there was a lot of traffic that day. I soon figured out why.


Flood.

(You can see pictures here: Flood Pictures)

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said, "If pictures tell a thousand words, this takes more than a thousand. There's been some great, stunning photography, but I'm not sure any of it captures the extent of the damage, and nothing can capture, I don't think, the heartache that you only sense when you are able to sit with people who have been through it."

My wife was at work 20 miles north of us. She calls me and says that her mom, and her little brother and sisters are stuck on their front porch and that there is 3 feet of water inside their house and on each side of their house. Their car is totally submerged and they have a six foot strip of concrete on their porch to stand on as it is the only dry spot left around them.

So, I shoot over there (they live across the street from the college entrance) but my road is flooded. So I have to drive through about 3 feet of water in one flooded spot and about 2 feet in another spot.

As I get to the college, every entrance into the college is blocked by about 6-8 feet of water in every direction - north, east, and west. I can see my wife's mom and family on their porch and there is about 100 yards of water between myself and them in every direction.

My wife's step dad was carrying my wife's little sister on his shoulders and wading through the water. I started out towards them when the water was up to my in-law's chin. Some young guys from the college and a few policemen were in the water and had a boat that was grabbed from a neighbor's yard.

My wife's 4 year old brother was diagnosed with leukemia a couple of month's ago and there was no way he could get in that water. So they loaded him up in the boat and my mother-in-law waded/swam through the water as I helped her get her footing and get across.

They were not able to save much. Our little brother's medicine, cell phone's, some shoes, and few clothes. BUT, they were now safe. I took them to my house and again I thank God that I live upon a hill and that my house was not affected at all.

So we get them settled and now I find out my wife is stuck on the other side of our town and cannot get through to get home. So my father-in-law and I head out to try to get across to her.

Imagine, a town split in half by water and you cannot get to either side from the other. It took about an hour and a half, but I finally got across to her by bypassing the entire town and taking the long country route.

One of the worst floods in our state's history. I remember the next morning my mother-in-law being very upset and asking why God would give her son leukemia and then destroy everything that they own. I told her that God is the easiest to blame. But if were not for God, none of them would have made it out of that house.

Driving through swollen roads, past down trees and power lines, wading through rushing water - I realized that God has a way of renewing things, giving people a new direction, or allowing things to happen to bring them closer to Him.

You see how man thinks that he is invincible, but then find out how frail we truly are when going up against nature.

My in-laws were able to move into an apartment very close to them and they have been able to clean everything up. They had to throw away many things, but the were also able to salvage more than they thought they could. They are starting over, but they are all fine (they are receiving help from us, FEMA, the Red Cross, and local churches).

What has amazed me the most is my wife's ability to hold up and have strength for her mom with all that they are going through.

That is the most important part of this disaster.

Now let's skip ahead to last night. My wife's friend passed away from cancer yesterday morning and I have always struggled and have had so many questions with the why's of life. Why would anyone die before the age of 50. Or 30. Or 20.

Human beings do not have the answer for that. I have just come to believe that there is a purpose for every event that we go through in life and answers are revealed in time...

So, after about 10 minutes of silence, my wife looks up at the sky to the west and says "Look!". We see strange lights in the sky that light up and fade out. Then another and another. They are not moving, they just light up and fade out. Then they reappear in the same spot or another spot. It was very intriguing and we could not figure out what they were.

All I knew is that they were very strange and at the same time very comforting. We still have no idea what they were...LOL!

I guess my wife and I were given some sort of answer :).

Finally, let's go back a few days prior to Father's Day. We had a storm come through about 7pm that night. Rough storm - hail, high winds, and debris were all over our yard. My kids were afraid, but it lasted only about 20 minutes and then it was over.

My wife and I went out on our porch to survey the limbs, leaves, etc...that were strewn about our yard and we looked to the sky and saw the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen! I mean a full rainbow with every color visible. We could see the full arch from one end to the other and I then remembered God's promises to mankind.

You do not have to be a spiritual person to have events like we have went through in the past 2 weeks to remind you that we are a small part of something much, much larger. I felt so blessed and humbled as I stared at that rainbow and have never felt more peace than I had felt that Father's Day evening.

I was and am so thankful that my family and my wife's family were safe and alive.

(As I was writing this, my wife called me and told me that someone gave my mother-in-law a car so that she could get to work and take our little brother to his leukemia treatments at Riley hospital. They had been using our other car to get things done and now someone gave them a car out of the kindness of their heart!)

I realized that whatever I do in this life has but a temporary meaning, that my legacy is not in money or accolades, but in what I instill in those I love and strangers that I come into contact with everyday.



My pot of gold is not at the end of the rainbow.
My pot of gold waits for me after I leave this life.


"We walk by faith, not by sight."
--II Corinthians 5:7

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Article Tags: edinburgh, encounter, franklin indiana, front porch, governor mitch daniels, helicopters, indiana governor mitch daniels, indianapolis, military base, mitch daniels, national guard, rainfall, rivers, severe thunderstorm watch, storm cell, storm cells, storm front, streams, stunning photography, tornado



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