Tornado Damaged Cross to Stay Bent on Church as Testimony of Survival
"We want people to know that we may be bent, but we're not broken."
(Parkersburg, Iowa)—Two months ago, when a tornado ripped through the small town of Parkersburg, Iowa, with winds of 200 mph, residents emerging from the rubble looked toward the United Methodist Church to see if it was still standing. It was. Nearly everything was miraculously intact, but one of the three crosses atop the church was bent southward, in the direction the tornado came. (Photo: Christopher Gannon/The Register)
Anyone driving through Parkersburg in the coming months and years may be surprised when they see it because the church has made a decision to leave the bent cross as it is. The reason, notes Rev. Betsy Piette, is that the congregation overwhelmingly wants it to be a reminder.
"We want people to know that we may be bent, but we're not broken," she said.
