I don't even remember the last time I wrote an entry...that's sad. In a way this blog is an escape for me. A way to share my thoughts without really saying a word. So many things in my life have changed since the last entry.
The most recent events have been heart breaking. The city that I have grown to now call my home Tuscaloosa was hit by one of the worst tornado's in history. To see so many places that have grown to be a part of your daily life gone is heart wrenching. Worse than that, seeing people who lost everything clinging on to pictures, blankets, anything that will serve as a memory will rip your heart out. I was brought down to reality very quickly. I am BLESSED. I have TOO MUCH. I COMPLAIN. I FUSS. I am UNGRATEFUL.
When you go up to a family who literally is looking at the cement slab their home WAS sitting on and you ask them do they need anything(materialistic) and they reply with can you just pray for us? That puts life into perspective. I started questioning wearing make-up, earrings, does it really matter where my clothes are from? At the end of the day my friends were alive, my family was safe back home in Butler, my home untouched, my car still was parked outside, and all of my memories still in boxes under my bed, and all around my room. They were left with NOTHING. They had each other and they were so THANKFUL to have each other that the little things did not matter.
Why do we put so much importance on things that we can't take with us? Yet we don't say I LOVE YOU ENOUGH. We don't ENCOURAGE those around us, we tear them down. We try to keep up with the Jones but the Jones are miserable inside.
This experience has been the most humbling thing I've ever been through. Volunteering to help others in a time of need. All they need to know is someone cares. Hope does exist and it exist through the ONE and ONLY JESUS CHRIST. If sweating for 3 hours reflects HIS LOVE let me not complain that I'm hot and SERVE. If hugging someone that has not had a hot shower in 5 days shows HE CARES let me hug them(Germ-ex is in the car)! Its not about being the HERO here....its about SERVING, LOVING, HELPING, and REPRESENTING HOPE (JESUS CHRIST)!
The out pouring of LOVE that people have put into Tuscaloosa since April 27th is AMAZING. As I have to work now(more about that at a later time) I don't have much time to volunteer. However, as I ride to work I see trucks everywhere picking up another brick from Full Moon BBQ, a piece of tin off of someones roof, a car that came from who knows where, it is evident that GOOD PEOPLE do still exist. TUSCALOOSA will be back. God's plan was BIGGER than what we imagined. If one person comes to know him through this tornado, then I would say its been a good thing for this city, Thank you JESUS for holding the keys that unlock doors we never knew were there!
You are GOD of THIS CITY!