May 25, 2011

Hope in the Storm...

We spent the day with my family in Joplin, MO today… although we volunteered at College Heights Christian Church in the distribution of goods to victims of the storm, our assistance seemed quite insignificant compared to the great need there.

Afterward, we were able to travel the streets of Joplin, and were totally setback and speechless at what we saw. Talk about overwhelming! Miles and miles of destruction, over 1,500 people still missing or misplaced, Joplin as we knew it is gone, and will never be the same. It felt as if we were serving on a mission trip to a third-world country, only the people we were serving looked like us, spoke our language… people once middle to upper-class Americans now rely totally on donations and the care of others. They have lost their homes, their vehicles, everything they own, and many of them their jobs as well as family members. They have no electricity, no clean running water, and feel misplaced in their own city.

Children and parents are still separated from one another, and as we traveled through total destruction, watching teens, women, children, and men walking the streets with hopelessness on their faces and going through mound after mound of broken things, it made me ask these questions, and I have been a man of faith my entire adult life: “How could or why would God allow something like this to happen? How did anyone survive this? Where are they going to put all this stuff? Whose children are these roaming the streets without adult supervision?”

As victim after victim passed through the church doors with tears in their eyes and thanking us, all that went through my mind was “I have done nothing… and I will never be able to do enough.” If you have a warm or cool place to lay your head tonight, and a place to call home… thank God for His blessings in your life, name them one by one, because there are many of our brothers and sisters who have lost it all, but somehow hold onto their faith with great faithfulness and hope.

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