12 Hours of Driving today from Joplin, MO home....Thinking "such as a time as this"...
As I left I was torn with the feeling that I wanted to stay and do more. The devastation was great in the city. You can stand in the center of the Tornado's path and look 360 degrees around you and see nothing but demolished homes and buildings. It looks like a war zone with very few structures standing. The huge trees that probably stood 40 of 50 feet high (it would take three people to reach around one) were either blown over or most all of the limbs were torn off. Even the bark was knocked or blown off of the trunks. Cars that had been in the area looked like the ones you see in a junk yard, smashed and completely destroyed. At the outskirts of the tornado’s path you would see one house that looked fine and across the road a completely destroyed home.
We were doing a variety of things including demolishing a home that was completely beyond repair, cleaning an elderly man's lawn of the debris that had blown into it, helping a young family (3 small children) move because their house was destroyed and helping feed volunteers, workers, homeless and locals. At one home I spent time walking around a man's house, with him, as he relived his life through the debris and household items he saw. Each thing he saw had a deep meaning and he contemplated the importance of each.
We aligned ourselves with a couple of guys who have been in Joplin since a few days after the disaster. One is a young entrepreneur who built up and sold several business and retired five years ago and has been living "for himself" for the five years. His draw to Joplin was the excitement of the disaster and his hopes to use his "rescue" dog to find survivors and bodies. ...He could not leave after he saw the need and has been there ever sense. He is organizing volunteer groups to help the victims as they try to reorganize their lives. He was made for “such as a time as this”…
The other is a missionary who also arrived in Joplin just a few days after the tragedy. His group set up initial response teams and stayed a couple of weeks and then decided to leave. This missionary refused to leave...even after his group informed him that they were taking all the resources and supplies. ...He would not leave. He now has a huge set-up with tents, cooler trailers and cookers in the High School parking lot and feeds anyone (volunteers, workers, locals, homeless, anybody) three meals a day. There were probably 500 people there on Saturday at lunch alone. He was made for “such as a time as this”…
In the story of Esther, Mordecai (Esther's step father) challenged Ester to step up and be the person she was created to be and save the Jewish people from destruction. I challenge you to step up and be the person God has made you to be...In your life…where you are… The mother who tenderly loves and cares for her children, the husband who honors his wife, the Son who cares for his sick mother, the Friend who encourages his hurting friend.
"Such as a time as this"..."Such as a time as this"...What is your time?
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