God in the Whirlwind: Stories of Grace from the Tornado at Union University

by Tim Ellsworth, Morris Abernathy (Photographs), David S. Dockery (Foreword)

When a powerful EF-4 tornado with winds in excess of 200 miles per hour slammed the Union University campus on February 5, 2008, destroying eighteen dormitory buildings and causing $40 million in damage, the immediate assumption was that dozens if not hundreds of lives would have been lost. Miraculously, nobody died, and the next morning major media outlets flocked to Jackson, Tennessee, where Union students and faculty credited God for their survival and got to share their faith with millions worldwide.


God in the Whirlwind recounts the entire experience through twenty eye-of-the-storm accounts from those who saw the walls and ceilings crashing down upon them and felt their ears pop as the pressure dropped, from anxious parents who waited for their child’s call, and from Union leaders who marvel at the university’s unbroken spirit in the face of such devastation. This inspiring book also includes eighty photographs that visualize God’s mighty hand upon nature and his gentle hand of grace.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christian

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2008

About the author

Tim Ellsworth is associate vice president for university communications at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. He is the author of Pujols: More Than the Game and God in the Whirlwind: Stories of Grace from the Tornado at Union University. He and his wife, Sarah, have three children.

Reviews

[Alison Coggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was really touched and amazed at the stories from the survivors

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

This amazing collection of stories about God's graciousness to people during the Feb. 5 tornado at Union University, simply written with much left out, was a testimony of God's grace to a community. I had heard parts of the stories as they unfolded in the days following the event. To read them one after the other had a strong impact.

[pianogal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very moving. When one person says they felt the hand of God, it can be easy to dismiss. When an entire campus said God was there, it's harder to ignore. I remember the Super Tuesday Outbreak and I remember sitting in my bedroom in Nashville TN watching the storm move up I-40 from Jackson. Luckily, it missed us, but others weren't so fortunate. This book tells their stories.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

You want to know if miracles happen in modern times? Literal this-couldn't-happen-without-God's-intervention miracles? Read this well-crafted book about an EF-4 tornado that plowed over a campus full of students, yet no one was killed.

[Bethany Hays · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing testament to God's power and provision told from first-person perspectives.