On one occasion we were staying
at our grandparents’ house for the weekend…outside in the tent, of course. On
Saturday evening our parents went to their high school reunion. A huge
thunderstorm was coming our way, but we were tough and could endure whatever it
was going to throw at us. (A little about the tent: it was canvas with large
aluminum poles on the inside and looked like a camel with a tall hump in the
middle and lower ones on each end…it was the 70’s and it was awesome!) Now,
back to the storm - as the evening went on the storm intensified! The wind was
whipping around so hard that we had to hold the tent poles to them keep from
collapsing. My two older brothers held the two main poles in the middle while
my younger brother and I each held the ones on the end. The heavy canvas tent
was smacking our knuckles as our hands gripped the poles tightly. The oldest
brother was barking orders, “hang on!,” and “don’t let go of the poles!” We
were in it together and we were going to save the tent! The tent started to
leak, like they always seem to do. There were screams of fear and agony.
Eventually, our wise grandpa came out and told us to get our butts in the house.
The oldest hollered over the wind, “Dad said we had to stay in the tent!”
Grandpa won that short discussion.
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| Maybe this would have been a better tent for us... |
The next morning the tent was in
a twisted pile. We found out later there was a tornado several miles away that
night. I’m pretty sure had us boys stayed in tent we could have saved it. We
can accomplish anything together, but sometimes you need to listen to wisdom.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 “Though one may
be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not
quickly broken.”
