Remnants of Faith

Late in December of 1990, in the midst of an Arctic storm, a large tree came through our house. Actually it was two trees. We saw them fall as we stood by the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony. But it was too late to move. The header over the glass doors probably saved our lives, and our house.

Our goodly neighbor came over, against his wife's wishes, and precipitously climbed our icy roof with his chain saw to cut the trees down off our roof.
Soon after other saintly friends showed up with their construction truck and secured a tarp over the large and gaping hole to prevent further damage to our house.

We farmed the kids out to friends and family, until school started back up and then we moved into three rooms of the Smiley Motel. Several weeks later we moved back in to our mended home.

This is what I wrote in my journal at that time:

Date: 18 January 1991
Three weeks after a tree fell through the roof.

I see them everywhere I go, remnants of the Arctic storms: trees down, or half-down, or cut off at the edge of the road. There are many scenes that will never be the same.

Now I am back home, its repairs nearly complete from its tree-visitor. And I see them everywhere, remnants of the storm: limbs scattered, paint spattered, chunks of drywall, bits of insulation, puzzle pieces of my house that look different or don't fit anymore. And I wonder if life will be the same.

I thought it could all be fixed just as it was. I thought it would all be the same and we would go on just as before. But there's all the remnants, all the reminders of the passing storm, and I realize that neither the house, nor us, will be the same again.

Painful as that may be, I guess it's good. We really didn't have to endure much--a moment of terror and a month of inconvenience, but no real suffering.

And we saw in this experience (and the other accidents of the past month), the Hand of God, and that is a great thing. We don't ever want to forget that.

No, we will never be the same again. Our souls will carry with us the remnants, pieces of faith and of peace and of love.

We were luckier than most folks in similar circumstances, who months later still had no relief. Our insurance agent was there the next day with a big, fat check. Repairs began the first day weather permitted. Our friends took us in and salved our wounds. The damage would have been much worse without their timely help.

It was inconvenient, yes, but we were so very blessed.