Stories from the Storms

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Tornado victims are finding help from Kentucky Baptist Convention churches, churches like First Baptist Church East Bernstadt. I talked today with Rev. Tommy Tapscott. Brother Tommy is the Associate Pastor of FBC East Bernstadt.

Brother Tommy shared with me about a woman who came to the church yesterday and began to look through the mounds of donated clothing for an outfit for her husband. She was obviously a victim of the storm. Cuts and bruises were visible on her face, she had a broken collarbone, as well as broken ribs. When church members began to assist her, they learned that her husband was also a victim of the storm. She needed an outfit for him because the next day, today, was his funeral.

Hearing that shocking news, the ministers and members began to comfort her. They also led her away from the stacks of used, donated clothing, to a place where they were able to provide an appropriate outfit for her husband’s funeral.

In 2Corinthians 1:3-5, the Apostle Paul declares, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”

In a fallen world that bears the curse of sin, life is filled with brokenness, pain, and death. Yet, even under the curse, God’s love and comfort can be found.

In fact, when brokenness, pain, and death are most plentiful, God’s love and comfort are most discernable. And, as God has ordained it, His touch is felt most tangibly in the touch of His people. Those who have experienced the eternal comforts of the Master in their own suffering have a unique ability to comfort others in their time of suffering.

The tornado outbreak of March 2012 is serving as a reminder of many things. We are being reminded of the relentless and indiscriminate consequences of the fall. We are being reminded of the frailty and fragility of human life. We are being reminded of the incomprehensible display of God’s power in the natural order. And we are being reminded that faith, hope, and love still remain. And the greatest of these is love.

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