On Saturday, January 9th, 2016, a tornado touched down in Cape Coral, Florida.  My family and I live in Cape Coral. While we were not in the projected path, we still stayed in the safest room in our home praying until we knew the storm had passed. We let our children know there was a storm in the area and that we were under a Tornado Warning. Matthew, our 4-year old son didn’t care.  Livvy, our 9-year old daughter, was worried. So, we prayed and reminded her where our trust is. We simply sat and talked about tornadoes and other things.

Growing up in Indiana, I am not unfamiliar with tornadoes and their power. Years of tornado drills, seeing schools and communities destroyed, and witnessing landscapes being changed forever. Tornadoes strike with little warning unlike the hurricanes that we are all too familiar with living in Florida. They are an incredible force of nature. Looking at pictures, I feel torn between their beauty and destructiveness. It is simply amazing that some warm and cold air can create such a thing.

My husband, Mark, had reached out to several friends and co-workers who lived in the affected area to make sure they were unharmed. We wanted to see if they had any immediate needs that we could help with. There was one friend that Mark was unable to get in touch with, so we drove by Sunday morning before church.

The wrath of the storm was deceiving as we approached the affected area. A few limbs down here and there. Some homes had a few shingles missing, but no major damage. But, block by block, the damage was worse. Entire lanais and fences gone. Roofs completely missing. Palm trees uprooted. If you know anything about palm trees, you know this is not normal even during a hurricane. All in all, a couple hundred homes sustained damage of some degree.

Amidst all the debris, there was something a lot of people probably missed. I am sure some drove through the neighborhood simply to see the destruction, snap a few photos, and share on Facebook. Tornadoes are not that common here and many wanted to see the aftermath. If you looked, not with your eyes, you saw neighbors helping each other. You saw people motionless in their yards unsure of where to begin the clean up. You saw a community broken, but together in the clean up efforts. You saw young and old, black and white, married and single, the hopeless and the hopeful walking around a broken landscape.

As we drove towards church, relieved that those that we personally know were safe, Matthew said, “We need to pray about this tornado.” Before we could even agree, he began to pray.  Through my tears, I can not recall verbatim what Matthew said, but allow me to paraphrase.  Matthew is not quite 5 and some of his grammar is not perfect.

He prayed for God to stop this tornado. He thanked God that all the people were safe. He asked God to keep them all calm. He explained to God that the houses were broke and the trees got broke and how the cars were upside down. Then he pleaded, “God, fix all the broken.” That was the end of his prayer.

Fix. All. The. Broken.

Four simple words from a 4-year old.  Luke 19:10 “For the Son of God came to seek and save those who are lost.”  Broken. Lost.  Same thing.

Roofers fix roofs. Carpenters fix walls. Screen companies fix pool enclosures. Body shops fix cars. I honestly believe that Matthew sensed another type of brokenness that can only be “fixed” by The One he was praying too.

Broken souls and broken spirits and broken lives are God’s specialty. Only He can fix those things. Maybe for one or more of those residents, this tornado was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. We do not know their entire story. We do not know if this force of nature would financially destroy them. We do not know if they had family or friends to stay with. We know nothing of the personal, irreplaceable items that are possible forever lost to the devastating winds.

What I do know is that a little boy with faith in the God of all creation, praying with nothing but faith, is a stronger force of nature than any tornado.  He prayed not for hundreds to think him a biblical scholar. He didn’t pray because he was told to.  He prayed because he loves God and he loves people. 1 Corinthians 13:13 Three things will last forever–faith, hope, and love–and the greatest of these is love.

Never underestimate the power of nature or of a 4-year old who can pray with conviction, humbleness, and total faith.