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Song: Peace in the Midst of the Storm

Scripture: John 14:21-27
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid.

During the last four decades I have interviewed multiplied scores of songwriters and have received from them some pretty incredible stories behind their songs, but none has ever matched the story you are about to read. It was told to me by, Stephen R. Adams, a native of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. He was born there in 1943, into the home of a Nazarene pastor.

He began to study music early in life -- at age seven to be exact. Bill and Gloria Gaither befriended and encouraged him as a teenager, and while still in his late teen years he played organ accompaniment for some of their concerts. He was also the organist at the church were his dad was pastor, who had by this time moved to Indiana.

He became a student at Indiana University where he graduated with a degree in Aristotelian (Greek) Philosophy, after which he earned a graduate degree in English Literature. With his formal education completed, he and Janett were married and he began teaching school and traveling part-time as an accompanist for Doug Oldham.

During a most interesting interview Adams related this unusual story, which is still hard for me to visualize:

“In 1974, Jan and I lived in Urbana, Ohio, about forty miles from Xenia, a town of about 25 to 30 thousand people, where I was employed as church minister of music. We were in the midst of preparation for an Easter musical, and early one morning I left home, in bright sunshine, to drive to the church where I was to meet other men who had agreed to help build a special stage setting for the presentation.”

“I reached the auditorium before the other men, and suddenly heard the fire alarm sound. The Church had a preschool Kiddy College, a group of about 220 children. I rushed to the vestibule of the auditorium where painters, who were there doing some remodeling at the church, were already helping the children down into the basement from the upper floors. I looked out the front door of the auditorium and saw three funnel clouds in the sky. A tornado was headed directly toward our church. I could see roofs of homes being ripped off and spun around in the sky as if they were toothpicks.”

“I quickly went to every phone in the building and they were all busy. I wanted to call my wife to make sure that she did not come in the direction of the church. I suddenly remembered a pay phone about a quarter of a mile down the street. I rushed to my car, a Delta 88 Oldsmobile, and sped toward the pay phone. The circular winds, which I later learned were clocked at 360 miles per hour, were just too much. I had to pull into a drive-under at the bank for protection. I soon became fearful that the building would collapse on me while still in my car. As I looked toward Kennedy Corner Shopping Center, about 300 feet away, I saw a man standing in the doorway of a Western Auto Store, motioning frantically for me to come in his direction.”

“I drove quickly toward him and when I reached the front of the store the winds were so strong I couldn’t get the car to come to a complete stop. I jumped out and ran inside. I then saw the man at the back of the store with his hands above his wife’s head, and heard him screaming, ‘My God! my God!’ I dived under a sofa nearby and suddenly the whole Kennedy Corner Shopping Center came crashing down on us. I was instantly buried alive!”

“I remember calling Jan’s name and the names of my children, Craig and Chris, as the building crumbled. I prayed for them, thinking that I probably would never see them again. I then remembered the words of an old hymn that I had heard while I was a student at Andover Academy, in Andover, Massachusetts, ‘Oh Jesus, I have promised to serve you to the end.’ I then surrendered my future and my life to His control.”

I was in complete darkness under that sofa, and I wondered if I were dead. I then realized that I was indeed alive because I pinched my forehead and felt pain. I had no damage to myself, so I began to try to dig out. I screamed for help because I sensed that I was entombed. Nobody was answering, and so I felt some panic.

“After... I don’t know how long, I was able to pull some debris toward me and soon saw a light. I then struggled through that opening to get myself free. As I looked around I realized that our city lay totally in ruins. I went under the sofa with everything in tact and came out a little while later and everything was gone!”

I saw a lady sorely wounded, and I frantically tried to find my car in order to get her to some medical help. I couldn’t find it. I saw a police officer, whom I thought might help me locate my car, but he was in a trance. He couldn’t speak. I then ran toward the church. During the half a mile sprint I saw nothing recognizable. When I reached the church, I saw the Pastor standing in the frame of a doorway. He informed me that the children had all been saved, in the basement, but the church building was gone, along with his home next door. In the middle of the street lay a dead man who had been killed trying to save a little girl. I was reunited with my family at 11:00 o’clock that evening. They were all safe. I hugged them more closely that night”

“Three days later the Pastor walked with me to the ruins of the Kennedy Corners where we saw National Guardsmen digging through debris where my car had been. I began inquiring about my automobile, and one of them asked, ‘Do you drive a Delta 88,’ and I said, ‘Yes.’ He immediately turned to the other Guardsmen and shouted, ‘You can stop looking!.’ Someone had seen me get out of my car, but then they couldn’t find me after the storm had passed.”

“My Pastor had lost everything except his family. We both stood there in tears. He said to me, ‘You know Stephen, the Lord doesn’t promise that He will take us out of life’s storms, but He does promise to be in the storms with us.’ That was the kernel that I needed for a song. Several days later I began to reflect on the events of that frightful day, and my experiences with the Lord. Verses began to form in my mind. Soon I had finished the song, ‘Peace In the Midst of the Storm.’”

In the song Stephen reminds us that Christ is an Anchor and a Rock on Whom we can cast our faith, and that Jesus rides with us in our “vessel,” so we can have “peace in the midst of the storm.”

Reflection:

As we look through the Bible, certain words become greatly comforting and precious -- “love,” “peace,” “forgiven,” “happiness,” and the list could go on and on. But, no word in the Bible is more precious in a time of trouble than “peace

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