We've had 2 tornadoes touch down on our farm since we moved here in 1983. 4/27/11 I saw 6 tornadoes and/or funnel clouds that day while visiting chicken farms. Saw the 7th from our front window after I got home that day. It was the one that skirted the brow of the mountain off Hwy 79 south of Guntersville. Never seen a day like that before, and hope I never do again. I found 2 pictures of black girls dressed in school uniforms that next June in our hay field, while cutting hay. No idea how far those had to fly in the air, but they weren't from anywhere around here. Likely from B'ham or Tuscaloosa.

But the most scared of my life I've ever been was when I was 18 or 19. A buddy of mine and I were fishing on lake Guntersville. We put in at the ramp on 431 at the bottom of the mountain as you go into Guntersville from Albertville. We rode in the boat from there, way up into Browns Creek. We fished for a while, then I noticed when we'd cast, that our line would stay suspended in the air for an unusually long time after casting. I didn't know what that meant, until that day. It wasn't long until a black wall of clouds came over the top of Brindlee mountain. Lighting was popping the lake all around us. We rolled em up as quick as we could and started back. I don't know how strong the winds were, but there were 5-6 foot waves on the big water between the big river bridge and Hwy 69. We were in my friends, dads, bass boat. It was a glass boat, but only 16' long. My friend had no idea how to drive a boat in those conditions, and I'm not sure anyone has any idea of how to drive a boat that small in those conditions. I was yelling at him to beach the boat. He kept yelling back that his dad would kill him if he did. I laid down in the bottom of the boat, so I wouldn't get tossed out. We finally got slightly ahead of it when we came past the feed mills. It never rained a drop on us, but the boat was about half full of water when we got back to the ramp. My little Toyota would barely pull it up the mountain. There was still water draining from the boat when we got back to my house. We were lucky to survive that.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14