The Storm

By Janyssa Schmidt

“We’re going camping!” Daddy announced one morning. My brothers and I were excited! Camping wasn’t something that happened more than a few times a year. We would be camping with our friends at Indian Lakes Campground, near Shipshewana, Indiana. The campground was beautiful and even had a pool! We went to the flea market and swam in the pool on the first day. On the second day we planned to have a picnic with our friends. The weather forecast predicted rain, but we thought we could finish eating before the storm came. 

We had just started eating when we noticed a dark cloud coming our way and coming fast! Suddenly we realized that the storm was almost upon us. We whisked the food into the camper. Daddy pointed to the green clouds and exclaimed, “It’s going to hail!” The men hurried to park their trucks under the nearby trees, hoping to protect them from hail damage. 

After our friend parked his truck, he was impressed to pull it a few feet farther forward. Once he did, the storm struck with all its fury. Along with a sudden downpour of rain, straight-line winds reaching 90 miles per hour blasted the campground. The furious wind snatched Daddy’s hat off his head, and it sailed through the air and disappeared in the storm. We crouched on the floor of our camper, hoping for protection from falling trees. A towering evergreen tree nearby snapped off and crashed onto the travel trailer parked next to us. I was praying, almost crying, out loud. Finally, during a break in the storm, we dashed for the shelter of the campground lodge, but even that had a hole in the roof where a tree had crashed onto it.

After the storm was over, we went out to survey the damage. The whole campground looked like a different place. Trees had fallen everywhere. Our camper had no damage, however; only the branches of a fallen tree touched our hitch. Many other campers were damaged, and many were destroyed. Thankfully, nobody was injured. A tree had fallen right where our friend had initially parked his truck before God had impressed him to move it. If he hadn’t moved it, it would’ve been smashed. A row of five trees had stood behind our camper. Three of those trees had snapped off in the storm. Amazingly, the two that stood directly behind our camper did not fall. Truly, “the angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them” (Ps. 34:7).

Janyssa Schmidt is 13 years old and lives in Indiana.