Tuscaloosa Tornado

Today was my fourth time visiting Tuscaloosa after the deadly tornado hit.  House after house destroyed and cars thrown around like toy hot-wheels cars.  There's not a lot I can do except cut down trees that are dangerous to passers by, or will be dangerous as they rot and die.  The ones that are left have been stripped of the majority of their limbs and leaves.  There is debris that needs to be moved next to the road so that crews can pick it up however so just in case you don't have a chainsaw there is plenty to do in that department.  Bring gloves and plenty of water if that's what you'd like to do.  Be sure to check in at the McAbee Center so that the city of Tuscaloosa can get credit and reimbursed for all of your volunteer hours.  I can assure you, they need all the help and reimbursements they can get as the infrastructure in the hit areas has a lot to be desired.

Some of the volunteers today ran across a bible that had obviously been tossed in the wind like so many things during the storm.  It was tattered and torn.  It was open to the book of Judges.  To some this would be a coincidence and to others a sign, but either way, I'd never seen a bible that had weathered the storm like this one.  It could still be used unlike most of the houses in the area and it's words were alive unlike the hundreds of people who passed away in the storm.  In the summer heat you could smell the rottening decay of animals and spoiled food from freezers that no longer were located where they originally were sitting, and then there was that Bible; every page could be read.  Even though it was tatered and torn, none of the pages were stuck together and none of the ink was smeared from the wetness of the storm.  There it sat open to the book of judges.

I spoke with quite a few people and heard some stories, some stimulating and some saddening like the old lady who was hiding in her tub for dear life when the roof disappeared and the toilet water started funelling up to the sky right before she went for a ride for a hundred yards, still in the tub until she and the tub landed safely on the ground with only a few bruises.  One saddening story was the lady that walked in front of one of the lots I was working on a few weeks back who held her dead baby in her arms while she cried.  The baby that was in the tree that came from a different county was yet another sad story.

One gentleman I spoke with lost everything including his work uniforms.  He had been living in that house since he was a baby and forty years later lost everything except the clothes on his back.  He brought up his insurance and said "by the way, you'd better make sure you have the names, models and serial numbers off of every thing of value inside your house if you expect the insurance companies to do much for you.

This was all a wide awakening event for me, but it makes me realise that we are here for only short while and the bible teaches not to put much stock in worldly possessions, but at the same time to not worry because God will take care of us.

Matthew 6- ¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Seeing the destruction in Tuscaloosa reminds me that everything could be gone in a second. It brings life into perspective.  What are we taking with us?  What are we accomplishing with our hands?  What are we accomplishing with our mouths?  What are we accomplishing with our bodies?  What are we accomplishing in our souls?  What are we accomplishing outside of our bodies and souls?

Matthew 6:21 (New International Version)
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Wow.  What a deep verse and so true.  For a believer, one treasure is so empty and one is so full of life.

In Tuscaloosa there are many houses that were made of wood and brick that are gone completely now.  The people that were inside were either injured or dead.  They thought they were safe and many were not.

Sometimes we try to stay "safe" and not do what we know is right, not say what we know is right, not teach what we know is right, not fight for what we know is right but in the end can we truthfully say that we truly lived or will we say that we led the sheltered life? If there's a chance that you're going to be sucked up into a storm one day regardless, wouldn't it be nice to just "live" in the mean time?

There are many who live in a sturdy and secure home, but the storm killed them years ago.  Don't let that be you.  Sometimes you just have to step out on a limb, because if you don't, you just ain't living.  There may be risk, but some of the greatest things in life require risk.  Without a doubt, risk combined with faith is a powerful combination.