In May 2007 the first EF5 tornado ever recorded obliterated the small town of Greensburg, KS, killing 11 and flattening 95 percent of the town.
Not even South Central Kansans who had seen many a tornado in their lifetimes could wrap their minds around the intensity of this storm and its 205 miles per hour estimated winds.
The town quickly became front and center in the minds of both Kansans and Americans as a whole as aid and resources poured in. There simply wasn’t anything left. No pieces to pick up.
Everything the Greensburg townsfolk owned had been interrupted in a major way, except their spirit. The tornado may have flattened their homes, but not their fortitude. They would rise from the rubble and for several years Americans gathered around their televisions each week as The Discovery Channel chronicled this rebirth.
Rebuilding nearly everything gave the residents a chance to start afresh. The schools, the homes, hotels, churches, restaurants, municipal buildings, and more, were all new. They were energy efficient, freshly landscaped, brightly painted.
Restoration was well along two years later when a Spring trip took us near Greensburg and we detoured a few miles to stay overnight in the town's rebuilt Best Western. Like many, we had watched the rebirth as it unfolded and looked forward to see for ourselves what we had watched come together on television.
Until you saw it in person, the spirit that rebirthed within Greensburg couldn’t be fully appreciated. It was much more than the newness of buildings. It was the pride one could easily see in the nicely manicured lawns, the well kept properties, the pristine cleanliness. Like good tourists, we gawked, admired, and boosted the local economy before heading on our way back home to Kansas City.
Part way home, the morning coffee-infused chatter had morphed into headphones and electronic solitude. We were on back roads, wending our way slowly through corn fields, pastures, and small towns. We had just entered one, slowing to meet the required 35 mph when a profound quote sprang forth from the back seat:
This town could sure use a tornado.
Indeed it could. We all burst out laughing. It was horrifyingly true. Houses needed painting. Junk piles were in every yard. It was dirty, in disrepair and generally depressing. The town did, metaphorically, need a tornado.
Over the years this pithy pontification has served as a marker for our family. Whenever we see things in disarray – around us or in a mirror – thoughts of towns, tornadoes, self-inflicted decay, and newness come to mind.
No one wants a tornado. But oh, how we often find ourselves in need of one. We need that kick in the pants that pummels us into making changes we needed to do all along … the woulda, coulda, shouldas that seemingly plague most every life, throughout life. In how we live – haphazardly falling into disrepair – and Who we live for, failing to stay in tune with the most important thing in life.
Second Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" Lord Jesus, sounds like we need interruptions. Sounds like we could sure use a tornado.