Al Roberts

... STUDIO INTRO: There was an eerie stillness that happened before the storm and then a deafening sound like a freight train barreling down on them. Al and Arvella Roberts didn't have time to run for cover before the giant tornado hit. As Andrew Knox reports, it's a miracle they're alive to tell about it.
VO 1 Is it the power of nature? Is it the power of God? Is it both? And why do they do all that damage to life and property? Sometimes it takes living through a tornado to begin understanding the magnitude of those questions. Friday, April 9th, about 5 AM, an F4 tornado with winds of 207 to 260 miles an hour ripped through the Cincinnati suburb of Montgomery, leaving death and destruction in its wake.
Mrs. ROBERTS: I remember being slammed against the floor and then hearing Al yell, `Father!' and then the freight train going throughVO: A mattress fell on Al and Arvella. The house shook and debris became shrapnel.
Mr. ROBERTS: I felt this warmth, graceful presence of the Lord on my back and I--it was almost like I was being pushed down to the floor. And f--you didn't get a chance to get upstairs and see a lot of the damage upstairs, but the bed--the--the bed was here. When the wind blew, the television fell into the base of the bed. The dresser drawer fell on the TV. And the wall fell on the dresser drawer, which kept the wall from falling on us.
Mrs. ROBERTS: All we could do was just lay there and start praying and just allow him to get us through it.
VO 2: Within a matter of seconds, it got quiet. It was still dark out.
Mr. ROBERTS: When I came up, threw the mattress off of me, the revelation is, I saw the heavens open up. Easy, 'cause there was no ceiling, right? When the rain hit me, I took a deep breath of shock, of cold shock. The revelation was--of the Lord was putting the spirit in me, putting--giving me the breath of life. So when I say I have a new heaven mentally and a new Earth physically, I am resurrected. I am resurrected. I have a new resp--perspective on life. I have a new freedom. I have a new joy
VO 3: As the sun began to rise, it became clear just how devastating the tornado had been. More than 600 houses were damaged or destroyed. Businesses were demolished. Had the twister hit two hours later, this church gym would have been full of children at day-care. Miraculously, only 42 people were injured and four people died. Words and video seem inadequate tools of description.Mr. ROBERTS: There was a moment when one of the service people came with a--one of the search and rescue dogs and they looking for you and you looking at him look for you. I'm gonna tell you with all my heart, with all my mind, that I was not afraid. If God was going to take me, he had made such a great peace with me inside of me that if he'd have taken me right there, I'd have gone and not felt any pain, either.
VO 4: Al and Arvella went back to work almost right away. Al was the special teams coach for the Cincinnati Bengals at the time.
Mr. ROBERTS: I'm going to be more diligent and more prayerful and be more of a godly man and--and be more directed. We're all going to have a tornado in our life. It may not come like this, but you're gonna have a tornado in your life. Maybe a couple small ones and a couple big ones. How you survive those things, how you react to those things, is going to be what you plugged into. This time is precious. This time counts. And I believe I am living eternally right now.