Remember the prayer with Mrs. Liz? Well, I couldn't wait to get back to see her the next day so we packed our car with clothes, grills, charcoal, toiletry items, etc. that our family in Nashville had gathered up and we headed back. There in the yard stood Mrs. Liz without the walker she had been using the day before. I walked into the yard and she gave me the biggest hug and said "You've come back! Guess what, your prayer worked! Yesterday, my foot hurt so bad I couldn't walk on it and now after your prayer, don't you see I'm walking without even using my walker. It doesn't hurt anymore. Hun...God sure does listen to your prayers!" I couldn't contain my grin and said, "Well, we said God is the healer and he has a plan for you! By the way, I've brought you back a grill." Tears flowed down her cheeks and she said, "Hun....get that grill set up right over there under the tree and I'll start grillin' everybody hot dogs!" She continued to grill all afternoon for those who spent their day cleaning up. I just loved that even though she had a boot on her foot, she found a way to help. Although the hot dogs were a huge success, I think her most important job was passing out hugs to everyone who walked by. She called them off the street just to give them a hug. My girls went with us and sat in the back of the truck as we drove around passing out Gatorade (huge hit!), cold water, chips, and ham sandwiches. They LOVED getting to scream out the menu and running the convenient store out of the back of the truck!!! It was hilarious.
I came across this areal view of the devastation so you can better see the neighborhood... (click on photos to enlarge)
Next we took another grill and charcoal to Lincoln Village. Everyone was out playing in the streets or hanging out on each others porch. It was a wonderful feeling to be there, everyone was happy and enjoying the simplicity of life. People were grilling and sharing food and it really made you appreciate being without electricity since it brought the entire community together. We wanted to hang out there all day but we had one more stop to make before curfew set in.
Our final stop was taking bedding and toiletries to the Athen's Red Cross Shelter. As Owen walked up with bags of supplies, a guy asked him if he was "checkin' in." Owen smiled and said "No, just bringing a few things that the shelter requested." Then the guy said how much he appreciated the donations; his home had been wiped out with the tornado and his family was staying at the shelter. All in all, it was a great day. I felt very blessed with the opportunity to be God's hands and feet and to see Him at work.
Things I learned today...
- Charcoal grills are extremely really handy and need to be in the emergency kit.
- Electricity numbs the mind, our community, and our hearts.
- I LOVE lovin' people. It's so rewarding!
- All churches need to have a disaster team to makes mobilizing help much faster and easier.
- Disasters can shake us up and wake us up to see what is really important in our lives.
- Another mental note to keep cash on-hand at all times. Several people had checks in their pockets but no way to cash them since the banks weren't open. To make it even worse, all the stores that were opened were cash only. If we hadn't been in Nashville, we wouldn't have been able to get money ourselves.
- "God is Good!" "All the Time!" "That's Right!"
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