{"id":4302,"date":"2023-03-29T20:46:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T20:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/100.28.115.227\/?p=4302"},"modified":"2024-11-20T20:48:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T20:48:41","slug":"a-testimony-to-gods-goodness-in-black-hawk-mississippi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/2023\/03\/29\/a-testimony-to-gods-goodness-in-black-hawk-mississippi\/","title":{"rendered":"A Testimony To God’s Goodness in Black Hawk, Mississippi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Black Hawk, MS (March 29, 2023)<\/strong> – \u201cI wasn\u2019t scared for me,\u201d said Gary. \u201cBut I was scared for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Salvation Army roving unit encountered 71-year-old Gary, attempting to salvage the original wooden floor from what used to be his home church. The floor, somehow still mostly intact, lies crooked and lopsided atop a bed of rubble that would have been the church sanctuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gary was born and raised in Black Hawk, a historic, close-knit community in North Mississippi, where he raised his own family. He is a man of deep faith and raised his family in the century-old church he was baptized as a child. In fact, all of Gary\u2019s children and most of his grandchildren were baptized in the historic Black Hawk Independent Church. Two of Gary’s five children were even married in that church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evening of the tornado, Gary, his wife, and his son drove to the vacant church parsonage, which sits adjacent to the church built in 1902, because \u201cit just felt safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg and his family didn\u2019t even have time to exit the truck when they heard the \u2018train sound.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was raining, and then there was an eerie calm followed by thunderous hail,\u201d said Gary. \u201cAnd then my truck windows just exploded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tornado demolished the church first, ripping the roof off and hurtling it towards the parsonage, where it landed just inches away from Gary\u2019s truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gary could feel the violent rocking of his truck as it passed over and said it was only the hand of God that held his truck to the ground. The parsonage crumbled around his truck like matchsticks, throwing wood debris through the broken windows, gashing his wife\u2019s head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how we survived it,\u201d said Gary. \u201cI guess I\u2019m a testimony to God\u2019s goodness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Salvation Army roving unit was dispatched to harder-to-reach locations and included a certified grief coach to assist in emotional and spiritual support for survivors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn speaking with Gary and listening to his account of what happened, I can\u2019t even begin to imagine what they were feeling. All I can think of is what faith and belief in God this family has in that they recognize it was God\u2019s Hand protecting them through it all,\u201d said Lt. Roy Fisher of Meridian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Black Hawk, MS (March 29, 2023) – \u201cI wasn\u2019t scared for me,\u201d said Gary. \u201cBut I was scared for my family.\u201d The Salvation Army roving unit encountered 71-year-old Gary, attempting 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