February 22 & 23, 1998 was an eventful night in Central Florida. I was in my Junior year at Florida Christian College (map) and I was preparing to start working on a paper due the next morning. It was the second nasty storm of the month, we had spent Groundhog day without power just a few weeks earlier. One of my roommates mentioned that there must be a train nearby and my training from years of tornado drills in southern Indiana kicked in and I rushed everyone into the bathroom. 2 minutes later the awkwardness became overwhelming and we went back out.
That night, several tornadoes cut through central Florida. One of them went through the sports complex across the road where it killed someone who was working on the fair equipment they were trying to get out due to the storm. It crossed the road and destroyed the Ponderosa RV Park (map). It shut down the turnpike and destroyed a traceable line of homes for another mile. In the words of one student quoted by a local newspaper, “Dude, it was massive.”
Due to a lack of resources to support all the displaced students (although about 15 of us stayed a night with Prof. Bundy), I came up to Jacksonville with my future wife, my roommate, and his future wife (my future wife’s roommate) and stayed a week up here with my family. While we were gone there were many funerals and President Bill Clinton gave a speech at the RV park. After our return we helped out where we could. I helped to dig through the remains of the RVs and trailers of victims to recover mementos for the families. They were water soaked piles of rubbish, but we found photo albums and other personal items with a lot of meaning.
I did pocket one item while serving, and I have it setting on my desk today in a small frame. This portion of a shredded Bible has been a reminder for me over the past decade that when it comes down to it, the greatest thing we can do for God is to care for his beloved people even if nobody witnesses it other than God.
