Photo by Yan Laurichesse on Unsplash.com

Those Who See Blessings In Turmoil Are Set Free With Happiness

by Eric Elkin

“God settles the lonely in their homes;
he sets prisoners free with happiness,[a]
but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.”

— Psalm 68:6

“Nothing ever happens in Hoisington,” a teenage boy told a reporter. The boy was recalling his attitude heading into his high school prom in 2001. It was not a unique analysis. Every high school kid thinks their hometown is boring. Then again, not every hometown is out in the middle of a Kansas prairie.

On April 21, 2001, students were excited as they entered the school gym for prom. This was the highlight of the school year and an excuse to party. Conversations recorded on cell phones captured the excitement. They talked about the after party and where they would get some alcohol. It was one last dance for seniors before moving into their adult life.

Outside, the clouds were turning dark. A storm was brewing. Yet, no weather front was going to disturb the storm about breakout inside. Besides, nothing ever happens in Hoisington. The girls in beautiful dresses and boys who abandoned seed caps and jeans for tuxedos were ready to bring this place down.

No one expected the storm to be anything more than some lightning and thunder. Across the open prairie, though, a tornado was forming. Its winds were reaching 264 mph. The little town of Hoisington, Kansas, stood in its crosshairs.

The students dancing in the school gym had no clue what was happening outside. Not even when the principal made them seek shelter. Everything changed when the students heard the sound of the roof being ripped off the school. The atmosphere changed from joy to fear. A feeling of dread filled the hearts of those in the basement hallway.

When the students finally left the school, they discovered a different hometown. The tornado had wiped out 200 homes and destroyed the Dairy Queen. Cars were thrown across town and up into trees. The roof of the hospital, like the school, was gone.

“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”

— Abraham Lincoln

It turns out things can and do happen in Hoisington, Kansas. They just happen when they are least expected. Life is full of beautiful experiences, but they become part of the routine. We tend to remember only the events which interrupt the normal flow.

This last week, I listened to This American Life replay their show about the 2001 Hoisington prom. I was fascinated by how each person looked for meaning in the random event. They asked questions to which there were no answers.

Why did a vase of flowers remain undisturbed on a dining room table of a house completely leveled? Why was one home untouched, while the one next to it destroyed? Why did this section of town get hit and not the others? What had they done to deserve this?

Ten years after the storm, The Wichita Eagle revisited the town and the experience. The two people they interviewed for the article described their losses. They also talked about the unexpected gifts they received. In the end, they said, “You find out you don’t really need a lot of the things you used to buy, especially when everything around you is going to hell.”

I was thinking of this when I read Psalm 68. Those who can see the simple blessings of life, even in turmoil, are set free with happiness. The ones who can only see the losses dwell in a parched land.

Every day is filled with blessings and turmoil. The pandemic is only making us take notice of it. I hope that when we remember this time in our lives, we see how it changed our view of the future. I hope it makes us more aware that God settles in the lonely homes and sets prisoners free with happiness.

Click to read Psalm 68: 1-10