An important thing to note, South Florida had not suffered a strong storm like Andrew since 1960 with Hurricane Donna. For years, we had hurricane warnings and they resulted in nothing more than weak winds and some rain. As kids, we looked forward to storms - they were cool and fun and a chance to get a day off school. It never occurred to us that storms were dangerous.
Andrew came out of nowhere. We were supposed to start school that week and I really wanted to spend the night with my best friend, but my parents vetoed it because of the storm. I thought that was stupid, I could wait out a rain storm with her just as easily as I could at home.
But as the weekend wore on, the storm got stronger. We didn't have shutters, but we started preparing the yard. We brought plants in, cleaned up furniture, etc. We even dragged some mattresses out of the back bedrooms where my brother and I slept because my dad was concerned about the neighbors pine trees.
That Sunday, a feeling of anxiety started to grow. That night, we watched TV and had dinner and then my parents told us to get some sleep. But I couldn't sleep. My brother on the other hand had no problems - ahhhh, to be 11 and worry free!
After midnight - I gave up pretending to sleep and realized my parents also couldn't sleep. By 2:00 am, the winds picked up. By 2:30 - we realized there was no rain storm. Windows were rattling, doors were honking and there were horrible sounds everywhere. We lost power soon and depended on the radio. I listened to Bryan Norcross guide us through the storm, give advice to people who were literally in life and death situations.
That night I prayed a prayer that I realized I meant with my whole heart - "not my will, but thine be done".
After loosing a window in the section of the house I happened to be in at the moment (and having winds of 100 mph whip through my legs), we got it boarded up and hunkered down in the living room. My mom sat in one spot with all our animals surrounding her, my brother laid on his mattress near by and my father paced. I started praying over and over "not my will, but thine be done."
It was all I could think of and I realized the ramifications of it. I realized that God's will might not be for our house to be safe or for our family to be okay. I realized that things might get bad. But what I also realized was that I wanted to choose God in the struggle.
The idea of God's will would come back to hit me over and over again in my life - but this was the first time I struggled with it. I also realize that to this day, I'm glad I did and I'm glad for the decision I made.
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