MEADVILLE, Miss. (BP) – It’s not uncommon for Rick Strawbridge to get alerts for bad weather. Typically, he and his wife, Dianne, stay home and pray through it. On Dec. 28, though, he felt they should leave their home and seek shelter at their church, O’Zion Baptist, about a quarter-mile away.
It would lead to an experience the couple will never forget, and Strawbridge wants to keep telling others about.
“God put us in the eye of the storm,” he told Baptist Press.
They had barely been there a minute. Dianne was sitting on one of the back pews and Rick opened the front doors to check outside. That’s when he saw it.
“Headin’ right at us,” he said. “We went to the women’s bathroom on the other end of the sanctuary and beside the baptistry.”
They huddled in the small room, about 6 feet by 6 feet, and heard the winds ripping the building apart.
“Words can’t describe how loud it was,” said Strawbridge, a deacon at the church since 2002. “And just as soon as it hit, it was gone. I looked up and saw clear sky. Everything – and I mean everything – was gone except that little room we were in.”
Wind and debris had filled the air, but fear was nowhere to be found, he said.
“Not one iota, from when we got to the church or even when I saw it headed our way. Not when the church was being tore up. God took care of us. All fear was gone, like in the song,” Strawbridge said.
“I stood up and helped Dianne up. There wasn’t a speck of dust, not a splinter, on us.”
Strawbridge, whose manufactured home wasn’t damaged, said it’s an example of God never leaving us, no matter the circumstances. He has spoken to groups about it since that day.
Church members gathered at the rubble the Sunday after. The tornado was part of a series of storms across the Southeast that killed four people.
The winds had tossed the steeple into some nearby trees and scattered the rest of building. On Facebook, someone posted that a receipt from Verna’s Flower & Gift Shop in Meadville was found in Pisgah, 91 miles away.
Without a building, the church has continued gathering in the home of its secretary, Phyllis Whittington.
“We get about 20 people in there,” she said. “I have a big table and a couple of couches. We’d love to have more. I’ll find someplace for them.”
Pastor Lance Moak was already working through health issues. Other area ministers have stepped in to bring sermons at the gatherings.
Meanwhile, plans are being made for a new building. It’s not a new experience for O’Zion, as the building was also destroyed by a 1934 twister. But they rebuilt then, too.
Excavation should start soon and eventually there will be a new home for messages like the one Strawbridge will continue to share.
“I can’t explain why God directed us there, but it brought a message for everyone,” he said. “His protection is strong. Thankfully, I can keep sharing that.”
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