Finding peace in the eye of the storm is, for some, more than a wish or an exercise of fantasy. For Ronnie Crumpton it was reality. It came as a tornado ripped his new home from its foundation Sunday evening. In Crumpton’s view, it was the hand of God that kept his family safe from harm.

Finding initial evidence of a tornado’s path in the Plains states means looking at the freshly torn ground. In the East, you look at the trees. Torn and mangled, they stand as silent witnesses to the destruction that occurred as a twister tore through the Crumpton’s world. Such was the case on Joe Brown Road southwest of Newnan Tuesday afternoon, as blue skies overhead stood in stark contrast to the work of Crumpton’s family and many friends, as they worked to finish the clean-up work in the aftermath the twister.

Crumpton, who along with his brother Eddie, owns furniture stores in the region, said the family heard the tornado warning issued on local television. The 3,300 square-foot newly completed home sat at a higher elevation than the handful of others in the immediate vicinity. From that vantage point and with the help of the accompanying lightning, Crumpton could see the storm, and the tornado, approaching from the west.

“There was a gray wall cloud with lightning flashes,” he explained. “It was like lightning was flashing inside the tornado. I could see debris and parts of trees in it.”

Heeding the safety instructions included in the tornado warning, Crumpton gathered his wife, daughter, her boyfriend and his grandson in an interior room. Inside their wood-frame new home, that refuge was an interior bathroom.

“The weather people continuously tell you what to do and that’s what I did,” he said with a chuckle. “The rest is history.”

The family huddled together in the bathtub praying with Ronnie on top of them. It did not take long for the twister to strike. The tornado made quick work of the house, but left the family unharmed.

“It hit and in 15 or 20 seconds most all of my dream house was gone except for the four bathroom walls,” he said humbly, acknowledging the awesome power that destroyed his home. But there was more than humility in his voice. There was something else. Ronnie Crumpton found a peace that defies emotion and rational understanding. “As it was happening I felt like the hand of God was over that bathroom. It was a peaceful feeling. I never felt any fear.”

Hundreds of friends made their way to the Crumpton’s home in the days following the tornado to help clean up the destruction. Many were from their church home at Mills Chapel Baptist Church. Many were old friends he had not seen in years. Calls of concern and support came in from Virginia and Colorado and England and Australia.

Standing under clear skies Tuesday afternoon, Crumpton said it had been determined that the tornado was an F2 or F3. The damage to nearby homes and woods and the extensive damage suffered by the Crumpton’s home could easily pass for the severe winds of an F3, with winds beginning at 158 miles per hour. The tornado’s path of destruction took some household belongings as far away as two miles beyond the home-site, Crumpton said as he pointed in an easterly direction.

Clearly what was not carried away by the storm was Ronnie Crumpton’s faith. Like the bathroom walls that weathered the storm, that faith stood the test inside the eye of the storm.