"Speak" by Cadia

Second Family

Proverbs 27: 9 "Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel."

True and enduring friendship...this is how I see our neighborhood, even despite the things we have all been through, endured, and words we have said.


Here we are again...the tornado sirens are going off just about every 10 minutes now and the news channels are talking of a tornado heading our way.

I remember May 2003 when a tornado hit our home. We were there, in the basement with friends and neighbors. The siding on the left side of our home ripped off and no telling where it ended up at. Our huge tree in the backyard struck by the tornado and half of it fell on our back deck as the strong winds hit.
Our deck was demolished, one of the front rooms gone, all the windows but our storm door blew out into the house, and several walls in our home were cracked from the pressure.

I remember the devastation it left behind, the week we spent cleaning up the stuff that had blown into our home (old insulation, dirt, and no telling what else). I remember all the trees down in our yard, our neighbors yards, on our street, and all the stuff blown in from somewhere unknown to us.

Even after all these years have passed we still watch the news during a tornado warning, we watch the skys, if the animals outside become quiet, if our dog starts whining continuously, the sirens that go off. We also watch out for our neighbors as they watch out for us.

That day we made new friends, lasting friendships to this day. A small community built by the devastation that tornado brought. Our small community is also our own small group at church, though we don't see each other every day as a group we gather in prayer and worship to our GOD, we sing songs, we pray for those who need it, we pray for our country, we pray for our church, our youth, and we share meals during group and email and call each other. We look to our small leaders to heal any rifts between friends, we forgive, we love, we live our lives together.

Even though our families are miles away from us and we don't always get to see them as often as we would like I know GOD led us to this area where we now live, to be a part of a bigger family, sharing our lives, and our hearts with one another.

To all of my small group family, we have grown so much over the years, not only in number, but spiritually as a group. You are my family away from home, my second family, a gift from my GOD.