Submitted by: Tom Snow
As a young man and new Christian, I found a church where I learned much and grew spiritually. We were in the early Charismatic movement and many supernatural healings and events were taking place. I was healed of cancer during this time. This was an exciting season and we all wanted to be at every meeting happening in the church and in the homes. We joked that we met six days a week and twice on Sunday – which was pretty much the truth.
One Wednesday night, we were all gathered for a service at the church. This was one of the hubs where the Holy Spirit was manifesting greatly in Columbus, Ohio.
We were in the midst of a very loud intense worship service – nothing unusual about that – not in any rush to do anything. In those days, we didn’t have a bunch of preplanned music with a group of song leaders, as is done nowadays, so the normal, unscripted, unprepared worship, without limits, could easily last for hours. The Holy Spirit was moving powerfully in those long meetings, and yet it only seemed like minutes. We could never get enough of the Presence of God!
In the middle of this worship, we began to hear torrential rain beating on the roof, the sides, and the windows of the building. The sounds grew louder and louder. Eventually, it became so deafening that it sounded like a roaring freight train overhead.
We didn’t stop. As the storm grew louder, we grew louder. The worst of the storm lasted for maybe a half hour or so. Hours later, around 11 at night, when I and my family arrived home, some of the members who hadn’t attended the service called.
They said, “Did you see the tornado?”
Tornado? I tried to recollect in my mind seeing anything extremely unusual when we left. We did see some trees and branches around the church parking lot that had been affected – but it was a very dark night and hard to tell – we just assumed it had been a bad storm. On the drive home I recall seeing more branches strewn around on the streets but hadn’t thought too much about it, probably because it was very late and dark out; and where we lived, I discovered later, was not in the path of the tornado.
So, I said, “No, but we sure heard something extremely loud. Did it pass nearby?”
They said, “You won’t believe it. We wouldn’t have believed it if we hadn’t seen it with our own eyes. While we were watching the local news tracking and broadcasting the weather a very large, black funnel cloud (a severe tornado) was coming down the freeway, tearing up everything in its path.”
That freeway passed right next to the church.
Our friends continued the story. “When the tornado got in line with the church, like it had a mind of its own, it turned ninety degrees from the freeway, directly into the path of the church, then continued its destruction. We watched as the bottom of the funnel touched the ground along the way, tearing up all in its path. When it reached just outside the church property, it came to a dead stop. There it hesitated for several very long moments.”
Barely catching a breath, they continued. “At that point, the whole tornado rose straight up into the air with its bottom now higher than the top of the steeple. The tornado did this without any other movement, at which point, it started moving again very slowly, directly over the top of the church. When it got to the other side of the church parking area, it hesitated, stopping again. After a few more long moments, the bottom of the funnel descended back to earth. Once again, it started moving, away from the church, tearing up all in its path.”
We said, “That must’ve been happening when we heard the deafening sound of a freight train.”
I was astounded by the retelling of what had happened. The church, the people, the cars and all were completely untouched. The next day, when we drove back, we could see the damage everywhere other than the church.
Yes, God still does miracles for his people. We didn’t know any of the details of what was happening while we were worshiping that night. No one needed to say or do something ‘special’ to stop that tornado. Authority came through yielding to the Lord as we worshipped Him. I believe at times, as God directs, we can also speak peace into a storm and stop its damaging effects. Either way, God rules over every storm and He watches over His people.