Lady Lake, Fla. – They arrived in their Sunday best or, like Suzette Whitacre, wearing all they had left, with Bibles and lawn chairs in hand to worship amid the broken trees and twisted metal.
“It’s time to praise the Lord,” said Whit acre, whose home was leveled in a series of three tornadoes Friday that packed up to 165-mph winds and killed 20 people. “I’m alive; I’m walking. I got a right to celebrate.”
At the pulverized Lady Lake Church of God, there were cries of “Hallelujah!” and the sounds of uplifting gospel music.
People in this tight-knit community of 14,000 about 50 miles northwest of Orlando started arriving more than two hours before the 10:45 a.m. service.
“I knew we’d be here today,” said Bob Newman, a church member who lives west of Lady Lake. “The only thing that could have kept us away was a torrential downpour.”
On a typical Sunday, pastor Larry Lynn would preach in the steel-reinforced church that was built to endure 150-mph winds and serve as an emergency shelter. This chilly Sunday, he stood on a pile of fallen beams and concrete beneath a bright blue sky.
“Last week, I spoke to a couple hundred people in Lady Lake,” he told a crowd of about 200 that included Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and reporters from across the country. “But this pile of rubble gave us a platform to speak to the world.” He told his flock: “Life does go on, and we’re here to help you pull it together. Don’t let bitterness set in.”
