Joplin

My eldest son travels constantly and to the far reaches of the Earth - Africa, Mexico, New Guinea - he goes wherever the work takes him. I have learned not to worry about him. He is a particularly sensible and mature young man and anyway, the thought of losing him is too unbearable to contemplate and so I just switch off from any thoughts of danger. He has told me of the odd scrape after the fact but he bears the burden alone whilst in the thick of things.

At short notice he was recently sent back to the United States. For the first time ever he shared with me that he wasn't happy about it. He was to be in the heart of the tornado area. My heart skipped a beat but there was nothing I could do about it and I did my best to switch off.

We have kept in contact by email and so has his house mate via Face book. The room mate contacted me on FB last night to say that my son meet a girl in Kansas City over the weekend and we had a fun conversation about that. His room mate loves to annoy him by talking to me. This morning there was an email from my son telling me that I was "banned" from speaking with the young man. It was all light and frivolous and fun. He was on his way back to the hotel in Joplin and would be in touch soon.

This morning the phone rang and my son spoke to his father. He said that a tornado had hit the town where he was living but he and his travelling companion were all right. They had been in Kansas City but were on their way back to the hotel.

As the day progressed he called again several times. The town had been flattened. They (he and his travelling companion) had walked the streets and were overwhelmed by the devastation. It was only that they had decided to play another round of tennis in Kansas City or else they may well have been downtown Joplin looking for a meal when the tornado hit.

Tonight, I give thanks for the life of my son and my prayers to the city of Joplin who have lost a number of their sons and daughters. My heart is most certainly with you in your darkest hour.