Joy Break: Cross Survives EF-3 Tornado That Destroyed Church
Texas Governor Greg Abbott visits and declares that 'the church, in reality, still remains.'
When we turn on our televisions or smart phones we are bombarded with news that brings us down. Where are all the good stories? They’re still there. Here’s one that we hope will bless you.
An EF-3 tornado ripped through the town of Salado, Texas, Tuesday of last week, leaving 23 people injured, according to WFAA. It destroyed scores of homes and flattened two churches in the area.
Cedar Valley Baptist Church’s pastor, Donnie Jackson, told WFAA that seeing his church nearly leveled was the toughest moment for him. Thankfully, no one was in the church at the moment the tornado struck. Jackson and his family huddled in a closet at his home. “We just prayed the whole time,” he said. “Sometimes you wanna question why things like this happen. And then one of the Scriptures came to my mind that ‘We know that all things work together for good to those that love God and are called to his purpose.’ I have no idea what God’s purpose is in allowing this to happen, but I know he has one.”
Most of the church was destroyed. Most. But not everything. A lone cross remained on one of the few standing walls. “It’s still anchored, it has not been damaged,” the pastor said. “What does that tell you?” He added, “This is just a building. Our church is going to continue right on.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared that Bell and Williamson counties were disaster areas. He even visited the church Saturday — by then a slab of concrete. “The cross survived,” Abbott said. “The pastor of this church made clear that the church still survives because the church is far more than just a building. The church is the people who are congregants in that building. The people who are brought together by God himself. So the church physically may be gone. But the church in reality still remains.”
Today in Salado, I met with the resilient Texans impacted by Tuesday’s tornado & severe storms.
A church stood in this spot a few days ago.
The only thing standing today is the cross.
The church may physically be gone, but the community brought together by God still remains. pic.twitter.com/GckLg82bYE
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 16, 2022
Nancy Flory, Ph.D., is a senior editor at The Stream. You can follow her @NancyFlory3, and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.
