Did the title confuse you? Haven refers to a safe place. It’s like finding a port in a storm. So how can dirt be a safe place? Let’s just say I found out the hard way when I was in the seventh grade.
On that fateful morning in January 1978, my mom pulled up to let me out at Halls Middle School. Hanging over it was a dark ominous cloud. I hadn’t ever seen one as black as it was
. Even the air felt different. I told her I wanted to go back home and get into our basement. While my gut instinct was to run and hide, my mom totally dismissed it. You see, her family didn’t have a fear of storms. They would always say: “It ain’t gonna do anything. Just turn off the TV and don’t get on the phone.” In those days, the phones were land lines. So, I went on inside. Everybody in my homeroom was talking about the scary cloud. There were even talks of tornados.
Being a gym aid that year, I went there first period. When the first class of the day arrived, the gym teachers told them not to dress out and to stay seated. That’s when we all realized something was very wrong. Listen, we could’ve had our heads stuck in the spokes of our bike wheels with one of our ears dangling off and they would’ve told us: “No excuses. Dress out.” Sitting on the floor, we talked about how weird everything was. As for the two gym teachers, they just stood together. A few other teachers and office runners would come in, talk to them, and leave. Then it began to rain. Actually, that word isn’t strong enough. It was more like a wall of water came down that was so thick you couldn’t see the main building. By the way, that was around sixty feet from the gym. Then the wind began to blow. We didn’t just hear it hit the building; we could feel it as well. Let me tell you, that old brick building popped and creaked.
Within a few minutes, sixth graders were lead in and taken downstairs stairs to the boys’ dressing room. Some had expressions of shock and others were crying. The male gym teacher came over to the group of us girls and said: “Get down the stairs now!” We jumped up and followed him down the steps. That’s when my heart went into my throat. When we got to the bottom, we saw the 6th graders in the position for a tornado drill. In case you aren’t familiar with it, you crouch down while facing the wall and your arms covering your head. We found out later on that the roof of the sixth-grade flattop had been blown off.
The gym teacher led us into a dug-out room with dirt walls, wooden benches, and no light. One of the girls was wearing a digital watch she had gotten for Christmas. At that time, it was high tech. Anyway, when she checked the time, it was the only light we had. For hours we sat there and talked. A couple of times the male gym teacher would come to the door and ask if anyone was missing. Of course. we would ask what had happened, but he would never answer us.
As I sat there in the darkness and listened to the others talk, I felt like I had somehow ended up in a bad dream. How was this real? Worst of all, were we still in danger from the tornado or whatever it was? Would the gym be the next thing hit? Needless to say, I became very frightened. Silently, I began to pray. That’s when I had a peace come over me. I realized that The Lord had already been protecting us because we were in a room that was totally underground. So, we were probably sitting in the safest place in the school during the storm.
“For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.” Psalm 27:5 (KJV)
The Lord hid me and my friends in a safe haven during the storm. He was protecting us and we didn’t even realize it. I daresay that happens more often than we know. When I say my tub prayers in the morning, I thank Him in advance for watching over us and to be with us all through out the day.
Are you wondering if it was a tornado that hit the school? Probably not. I did a little research on some news articles from this time. The ones that I found described it as a wind storm. I didn’t find a mention of anybody seeing a funnel cloud. I even asked my husband Tim. From his classroom, he watched the roof fly off of the sixth-grade flattop. He said he didn’t see a funnel cloud or any circulation. We will probably never know exactly what happened on that day. If it happened now, we would know due to sophisticated radar systems, weather satellites and smart phones and other devices. There would be pictures posted on social media as it was happening.
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.