Ron and I married in June of 1993 - the year of the flood in St. Louis. It was a summer that changed Southwestern Bell forever. Suddenly, the company was forcing everyone, and especially those in installation and repair, to work long hours of overtime. They handed out repair jobs without sufficient time to do the work and came down hard on employees who didn’t give 120%.
One hot, humid summer day, a terrific thunderstorm descended on St. Louis. Normally, I don’t get too excited about thunderstorms. I usually chuckle to myself as I recite Grandad’s old saying, “The thunder rolled, the clouds look big, the lightning flashed and killed a pig.” I don’t know why that saying amused us so much as children, but now I often find myself amused by our delight over it. So it was unusual on that hot summer day for me to become so fearful for Ron. I didn’t know where he was working; whether he was inside or outside. I just knew that I was so afraid for him, to the point where I was on my knees for what must have been about 30 minutes, crying and beseeching God for His protection on Ron.
It wasn’t until Ron got home that we put the details of our days together - and thanked God for His protection. Ron had been climbing up and down poles and ladders all day. Even though the guys are not supposed to go up the telephone poles during a thunderstorm, sometimes they do - and especially given the climate that summer where so much work had to be done - yesterday! Even though the thunderstorm was right over the top of him, Ron thought he’d just go up and he’d be right back down again. Then something stopped him. He decided to just wait for five minutes. Less than a minute later, lightning struck the strand that his ladder was leaning on.
You will not be surprised to hear that the children and I pray for Ron several times every day.