24 Mar Granbury Tornado 2013
On the night of May 15th, 2013, a large wedge tornado swept through the town of Granbury, Texas, wreaking havoc on the community. The people there were caught completely off-guard, because the super cell that housed this deadly tornado had taken an unprecedented turn. The storm began west of Weatherford, Texas, near Mineral Wells, and my dad and Mike Casey were not only tracking the storm, they were the ones to report that a funnel was about to touch down to the local news. The rest of my family and I, however, treated the night like a normal evening. We loaded up to go to Wednesday night church, wary of the inclement weather, but trusted the intuition of our storm chasers to keep us safe. As the evening progressed, my dad contacted my mom and warned her that the tornado was tracking directly down Interstate 20 into Weatherford, headed straight for the church where we were. A city official came and stopped the services and directed all the students to get near a wall with their heads down. My mom, two of my brothers, and I were in contact with my dad and Mike trying to stay up to date on the status of the storm.
Now, all of my life up until this point, I had been absolutely terrified of storms. If there was even any talk of a tornado approaching my location, it would not have been far fetched for me to tear up out of fear. In this particular instance, however, my mom and I were remaining in constant prayer, and I asked the Lord to give me not only peace in this storm, but also the strength to comfort the terrified students around me. I was able to walk throughout the room and bring consolation to the young people who were not sure of what was happening, and I had them join me in prayer for our safety.
That night, the Lord filled me up with His Spirit that brings peace and hope, and He miraculously caused the storm to change course, taking an unanticipated southern turn and missing our church entirely. After that night, I knew that the Lord had called me to be a part of these weather events in a way I did not yet understand, and even though I did not entirely conquer my fear or find great interest in the weather for another couple of years; that night was pivotal in shaping my heart and mind towards severe weather.
The rest of the story unleashed yet another passion within me. After the storm took the unprecedented turn south and hit Granbury, my family spent several days serving food in the neighborhood hardest hit with damage. I was drawn one step closer to becoming a Storm Warrior.
