Father of 13 gives his life to save family in Alabama

My dad posted this on his blog yesterday. A re-post from a blog by Doug Phillips.

Tom Lee was a man who always had a sparkle in his eyes and a Gospel
message on his tongue. His family is one of those that people describe
as “energy givers.” When Tom, his bride and his family of thirteen
children would arrive in town, it always meant encouragement.

Last night as tornado storm winds approached the Lee home in Alabama,
Tom gathered his wife and thirteen children in the den. They huddled
and they prayed. Two minutes later the tornado descended upon them. The
house was instantly destroyed as beams and cinder blocks rained down
upon them.

But in his last great act of fatherhood, Tom Lee had the presence of
mind to throw himself on top of his children, including his first-born
son Jordan. Looking up at his father Jordan saw the blood in his
father’s mouth and witnessed as the breath began to leave his father,
but was able to hear the last words of his father’s crying out to God
for the safety of his family. Then the spirit left the body of Tom Lee.

There were other injuries including children trapped under a piano
and between beams. Medical assistance was nowhere in sight for many
hours. There was just too much damage in the valley, too few support
teams, and inaccessibility was a problem. Eventually they came.