I had an opportunity to go to Tuscaloosa, Alabama this past Friday to help the clean up and restoration efforts for the city. As most people hopefully know by now, the state of Alabama saw what is being widely considered the worst tornado it had ever witnessed last week on Wednesday. Measured as an F5 (I've heard this to be an understatement, but this is as high as the scale goes), this particular tornado ravaged many parts of Alabama.
The sequence of events and reactions sparked by this storm have brought about thoughts and emotions in me, as well as many others in the southeast. The devastation of the storm showed me how quickly everything we think we have here on earth can be taken away in a split second. The aftermath of the storm showed me how much people care about each other, despite previous differences. And the shocking nature of all that has happened has made me appreciate all that God has blessed me with, namely my safety.
One of the worst feelings in the world is being safe in one place while your family is in danger from a powerful storm beyond your control two hours away. In this case, I was in Auburn the day the storm hit, at least three hours away from Tuscaloosa, where the storm did its worst. My family, on the other hand (mom, dad, little sister and brother, and dog), were in Birmingham, only an hour from Tuscaloosa.
Fortunately, the storm wasn't as brutal to Birmingham as it was to other parts of the state, and the worst problems my family had to deal with was a power-free house for a couple of days. No physical damage to them or any of our belongings meant that we could all breathe easy. But the same couldn't be said for the city of Tuscaloosa.
Many stories were told about how horrible the storm was in Tuscaloosa. I've heard countless stories the past week about unimaginably powerful winds picking up cars and flinging them across town, tearing the roofs off of buildings, and even ripping up concrete from the ground. I witnessed the result of this destruction when I visited Tuscaloosa. With no exaggeration, all of the stories were completely true.
Everywhere I looked, while in Tuscaloosa, I saw upended trees, cars flipped upside-down, and fields of rubble that used to be houses that littered the entire city. And all of this destruction took less time than it takes to drive to Tuscaloosa from Birmingham. It took five minutes for hundreds of people to have everything they owned taken away from them, or even worse, their lives. The things we have here on earth are fleeting. They can be here one second, and gone the next.
But in this world there is an insuppressible will among people to show love to those who need it when they need it most, and it has been shown in its greatest quality since the storm hit Tuscaloosa. Every since the day after the storm, there have been too many organizations to count in the city, helping with clean up, distributing food and other necessities to those who lost their homes, aiding in search-and-rescues, and just being an encouragement to those who had everything taken from them by the horrible devastation of the storms.
The amazing resiliency that people show when disaster strikes is a wonderful example of how God's light can shine through those who might not even know that God is using them. In fact, so many people came to Tuscaloosa to help with clean up, city officials had to turn people away unless they were with an organized group already in the city. The effort to help put Tuscaloosa back together has been put on many peoples' hearts, and I'm convinced (even if they don't know it) that God put it on their hearts.
This love that others show even trumps rival boundaries. Auburn University formed a group called Toomer's for Tuscaloosa. This group has been going nonstop for almost two weeks now in aiding the effort to help the city by sending workers and supplies in large bulks. And for those who might not know, Auburn and Alabama take their rivalry pretty seriously. So it's amazing for me to look at this situation and see how God has used something so horrible to bring people together and demonstrate unconditional love in ways that glorify Him.
When I went to Tuscaloosa, I was with a group from Auburn, and we were working with the Central Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa. Central COC took some of the worst damage of the storm, with their entire building getting demolished to a heap of bricks and a couple of freestanding walls. And yet the members of the church are outside every day, under a giant tent, accepting relief supplies, and then handing them
There were many people we met who had lost everything, particularly a lady who lived in some projects that were badly damaged; but instead of complaining, she simply said, "I just thank God I'm alive." I wish I could have that view in life. Instead of worrying about petty things like the game on TV, why don't I thank God for the things I have?
So here are some things that I want you to take away from reading all of this; things that greatly impacted me after seeing firsthand the damage from the storm. Never take for granted the blessings God has given you. Your family, a roof over your head, your friends, your safety, thank Him for it all every day. And no matter what happens in your life, He has a plan for you. If you aren't caught in the huge storm, then you're meant to go to those who were caught in it.
The people in Tuscaloosa suffered many losses. And many of these same people might never recover from what the storm did to them. But, despite all of this, for many of them, their faith prevailed. The world can send all of the problems and be as destructive as it wants, but with faith, the world can't hurt us. With faith, we know that love, God's love, brings everyone together to be lights for the ones lost in the storm. The storms of life get ugly, some worse than others, but no matter how big the storm, God's strength gives us the faith to praise Him in the storm.
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