Yesterday, a tornado cut a 1.5mile wide, 20 mile long swath of destruction through Moore, OK, a southern suburb of Oklahoma City. Several schoolchildren were killed. Living here in Tornado Alley, one would think we would get used to things like this as tornadoes are a yearly occurrence. Usually though the destruction is not this massive.
We are touched by your prayers and comments regarding this phenomonon on this blog. Yours Truly is humbled by calls and texts and emails from several of you yesterday inquiring about my personal safety. Thank you. Just so you know, Moore is about 120 miles southwest from me so we escaped any harm. Do continue to pray for families who lost little ones.
May the Christ grant you the grace required to please HIm in crisis. There was another empty big ill wind blowing in Eugene, Ore. The spiritual guide of the HOOM/CSB, that led them to accept the ordination and sacraments of the defrocked Met Panngratious, and FR.Podomoshensiy, with over 20 years of bogus baptisms and other duties.The figure is now honored in Eugene to give guidance in Christian Orthodox worship, being introducted to the flock thier as somebody important to listen and learn from. Nothing could be further from the Truth.The years he taught Jesuit visualization, mind control and Hindu reincarnation, and dishonored his flock by requireing them to kiss the rings of a pervert. Who in thier right mind would allow this pompus ill wind to teach authentic Orthodox seekers?Fr Lubliner apparently, as they are old friends. Perhaps he should choose his friend more wisely or is this just another attempt to piss in the face of those teaching Truth? I have had 40 years of their duplicity, enough is enough. I trust them as I trust a rattlesnake, it will bite and poison.
Mr Kinsey, I pray that someday you will be able to put Fr. Herman down. You’ve been carrying him around with your for almost 30 years now. He has clearly gotten quite heavy for you. He clealy became unhinged with the death of Fr Seraphim, he mislead a lot of people–most of whom suffered as you did because of what he did. Most of whom have repented of their own amplification of the lies once they recognized how sick Fr. Herman was.
If Fr. Herman has also repented and been restored that is a glorious thing. If he has not, then he should not be listened to. I would hope that his bishop has vetted him, but if it is Bp. Benjamin, you are right to be concerned, IMO.
Only forgiveness will free you from the millstone around your neck that Panngratious placed there. You may never know how that millstone helped lead you to salvation, but unless you forgive, it could lead you in the other direction.
Even though I was long gone from the HOOM when Panngratious was inflicted upon them and that their cooporate arrogance led them too, I know the pain he induced and the damage and the necessary humbling that was induced in the leaders too. I sincerely empathize with you on this, but please don’t allow it to continue to make you suffer. Give it up to God and allow Him to transform it for you.
Praying. . .
Most of these storms are quite localized and you have time to get to safety. This one blew up much more quickly and larger than most and hit a highly populated area (for the region). I’ve been hiding in basements from these dang things all of my life. After awhile, even knowing the danger, you just get tired. Plus the weather people around here always make each storm the ‘worst ever’ It tends to desensitize you to real danger when it comes.
As bad as it is, as many lives as were lost, it is far from the worst storm ever. The massive storm that unleashed over 100 tornados in the plains, one of which hit Des Moines badly near the beginning of the 20th century was far worse, just not as many people involved. The tornado that totally destroyed Udall, Ks in the 1950’s and killed hundred’s may not have been as big (they weren’t rating them back then at it hit at night) but it was worse in terms of lives lost (no warning system back then). I have an indelible memory of the effect it had on my father. He was the Director of Wichita/Sedgwick County Health department; head of Civil Defense locally and a doctor. He got called out in the middle of the night. He came back and was more shaken than I had ever seen him or ever saw him. It was horrible.
The point is, It isn’t about global warming. We here in the Plains have been dealing with these things forever. And frankly I am sick and tired of the weather hype and ‘disaster coverage’ the comes after. I remeber when I was living in the small Kansas town of Attica a few years ago, we had a tornado come through. My family and I were down in our basement watching the news coverage from Wichita. A report came through that our town had been destroyed. Well, since our house was obviously fine, I went up to our front porch and looked out (I could see practically the whole town from my porch). It was all there. In fact, one house had been damaged and the man’s goats killed. That was it.
Two things that are not mentioned enough. In this case, the survivors started searching for their potentially trapped neighbors as soon as they could, ignoring the destruction of their own homes. They did not wait for the professionals, althougth they responded quite rapidly and in force. Those actions rescued a lot of people who might otherwise have died. AND the fact that these people are able to rebuild because of the money provided by private insurance companies, who, in most cases, get the folks the money they need rapidly and fairly.
When Andrew hit Florida for instance, one company, St. Farm, paid out over $300 million in claims.
That being said, you need to review your homeowner’s policies to make sure they are providing the coverage you think they are and the coveage you want. Get your policy out, read it, go over it and then call your agent for a sit down to answer any questions you have and explain all of your coverage, pay particular attention to the “rain-wind” deductible and what is not covered. Ask them about the process of filling a claim to make sure you understand the most efficient manner to do so.
If they are unable or unwilling to do that, find one who will and get your homeowners through them, even if it costs a little more.
Have we heard any news of the Orthodox faithful and the Orthodox Churches in the area so devastated? This is such a horrible tragedy and my prayers are with all the people who have suffered and died. May our Lord be with them.
Dear Mr. Michaelopulos:
As far as I know there was no damage to any of our Orthodox churches here in the OKC area. The previous evening, Sunday, a tornadic storm passed over both St Elijah and St George’s churches here on the north side / Edmond area. I saw the rotating wall cloud from my front porch; but the funnel cloud did not form until the storm had moved east of us. It did touch down in east Edmond along I-35 and did quite bit of damage later in Pawnee. There were power poles and street lights down around St George’s church; but neither St George nor St Elijah appear to have suffered any damage. I have not heard of any local parishioners affected by the tornados; but we don’t have close ties to the local parishes since we attend St James in Stillwater. Pray for the families who lost loved ones. The first funerals for the children killed at the Park Towers Elementary School were held today.
The loss of life could have been much worse; but many of the homes in Moore had storm shelters installed after the previous tornados hit. The clean up is already well under way.
If the experience of the clean up there is anything like what happen when a tornado hit a suburb of Wichita a few years ago the total cleanup time will run to about a year until everything is back to more or less normal. My parish has close ties with St. Elijah and I have not heard of any problems.
Lord be praised that you and yours are safe.
Hope y’all okay after the most recent twister activity in Oklahoma.