McGaha Jr., Ronnie Lee, ST1

Muscle Shoals
Ronnie Lee McGaha Jr., 42, died Wednesday, April 27, 2011.
Public viewing will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at Trinity Memorial Funeral Home, Muscle Shoals. The funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Bethel Colbert Missionary Baptist Church, Leighton, with burial in the church cemetery. The body will be placed in the church one hour before the service.


HARVEST, Alabama -- American and U.S. Navy flags flutter on a pole beside the rubble that was once the home Ronnie McGaha shared with his family on Wilbanks Lane in Harvest.

McGaha, a 20-year Navy veteran, and his wife, Lisa, had recently remodeled their two-story Colonial-style house to add a shop where Lisa could work as a hairdresser, said Maurice McGaha, Ronnie's brother. Ronnie and Lisa, their 24-year-old son, Aaron, and teenage daughter, Denae, were at the house when the storm barreled down on them.

Ronnie, 42, had called his family downstairs as the storm approached the area, and they huddled together under the staircase. Denae had decided to go upstairs to get her shoes, but her dad said, "'I think we had better wait,'" Maurice said.

When Ronnie heard the tornado coming, he scrambled out from under the stairs to grab Denae as "the house exploded," Maurice said. "He pushed everybody down."

The bottom floor of the house collapsed and the fireplace fell on McGaha, who died from internal injuries. Denae was bruised but not otherwise hurt. Lisa was uninjured, but Aaron has a broken foot and pelvis.

"He died saving his family," Maurice said.



This is from the Ron's Facebook Notes:

By Ronnie McGaha on Tuesday, January 4, 2011 at 12:57p.m.
Question of the day: Do you really want to go to heaven or do you just want to stay out of hell? There IS a difference. Do you look forward to praising the Lord forever and ever, or is any place other than the hot pit okay with you? Would Jesus consider YOU a friend or an associate? Does your talk, walk, prayer life, faith, and monetary contributions meet the standards God sets or do you do just enough to "LOOK" better than someone else? Just enough.. is not good enough!!

In the end, trophies will not be given for "First Place Christian." There will not be a hope of skimming by because the Lord is not judging on a curve. Your (our) salvation is not relative to how anyone other than you lived and whom you (I) chose as your (my) Lord and Savior. Some choose their spouses, their parents, their job, their bank account, their stock portfolio, and/or their friends as their Savior. All of these things will pass away. "On a solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." Remember that?

Battles have been fought, blood has been shed, and much time and energy has been expended to fight for equal rights for different groups throughout history. Jesus says salvation is free and it doesn't matter who you are, where you're from, what you've done, what color your skin is, or how much money you have. Jesus says...:...He stands at the door and knocks.." Imagine that. Such a wonderful gift and He doesn't even ask you to do anything more to get it than open the door. Yet, some of us are too stubborn, too scared, or just plain too lazy to do that.

I'm going to stop now. I've said more than I intended. Tomorrow is not promised. There have many that have worked and saved almost their whole lives to prepare themselves for a wonderful retirement and never make it there. Yet, they haven't done one thing to prepare for what comes after this. You can decide today to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Some will call you crazy. Some will throw your past in your face. YOU might even throw your past in your own face. Guess what? Jesus knows ALL about you and what you have done..... AND He still wants you anyway. Okay, that's it.

Ronnie M.