After Jordan Baize emerged from his basement where he had taken shelter during a hurricane in Bremen, Ky., he saw the roof of his house fly off, the doors came off their hinges, and shattered glass and insulation were scattered all over the place.
But the Yamaha piano was still intact. The next morning, under a cloudy sky, Mr. Baize sat alone in the living room and started playing a song that had been stuck in his head for days.
Mr. Baize’s sister, Whitney Brown, said she heard her brother steal it Saturday while she was packing clothes in her bedroom. When he started recording Mr. Baize, he recognized the melody as a Christian worship song, “There is something in this name” and he remembered these words:
“Kings and kingdoms will all perish, but there is something about that name,” referring to Jesus Christ.
Mrs. Brown said these words seemed appropriate to the occasion. His brother’s home, his “kingdom,” was destroyed, but he said he had no hope.
“It was healing to know that Jesus still had hope,” said Ms Brown, a 32-year-old massage therapist and doula and a sawmill owner.
At least 88 people died Hurricanes hit Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee on Friday. 12 people died in Bremen.
Mr. Baize, 34, said he didn’t realize his sister was recording him, but was encouraged by his response after he posted the video on Facebook.
“In these times, we’re all facing some kind of storm, whether people around the world were hit by a hurricane last weekend or not,” said Mr. Baize, an accountant and consultant. “This little peace and perspective that I think is a personal, private moment that I think speaks to people around the world.”
Mr. Baize said he ran into the basement with his two children, ex-wife and husband, and gathered under a mattress just before the anticipated hurricane on Friday night. He said he came after 3-4 minutes. It took about 30 seconds.
After the storm passed, she and her children spent the night at their parents’ house nearby. When he returned home the next morning, he stockpiled debris: debris everywhere, five or six inches of rain left over from the house, and damaged trees that three generations of his family had grown to climb. He turned back to the water-covered piano.
“I thought I could see what shape the piano was in,” he thought. “If it’s in a terrible, terrible state, I can at least play it one more time.” He started playing and felt a sense of peace.
Gloria Gaither wrote the lyrics for “There’s Something About That Name,” and her husband Bill Gaither composed the music. He said he was overwhelmed after seeing the video clip of the song they wrote decades ago.
“A song pops up in someone’s life when they need it,” he said, “in circumstances we could never have imagined.”