I hope I'm never the same.

May is my month. Between anniversary, Mother's Day and my birthday, I get a present almost every week. Poor Hub. He does a really good job of spoiling me. He had been out of town all last week and then came home with Corinthian Chimes (that I had hinted for at Mother's Day and thought he had forgotten) and a freshwater pearl bracelet that we had seen together at a local jewelry store. The chimes have such a rich, deep, perfect tone and I love them on my back patio.

Even better though, the man did for me what I truly wanted. I felt so very drawn to go to Joplin, MO and see if we could be of help. Getting the news that a friend of ours who now lives there was trapped in the Wal-Mart and missing for several hours, it just made it so personal. Not sure what to do or expect, we loaded up an SUV with 32 cases of water and headed out early Saturday morning. Poor Hub. It's a 4-1/2 hour drive and he had just driven back on Friday afternoon from a 7 hour trip in the same direction. What a guy!

We got there and went to our friend's church where there was a hub of activity. People and trucks were pulling in from all over the country. The people in Tuscaloosa, AL, who had just been through a similar situation, sent truck with things as well. People of all ages were drawn there to help in all kinds of ways. There was one man there that clearly had been a victim of a severe stroke. He was passing out waters and shuffling big trash cans back and forth relentlessly. I spent most of that day inside the church sorting through clothing and supplies. Hub was outside unloading trucks and helping to set up tents. Crews with chain saws were going out from place to place to cut trees so that they could be moved. Other crews went out to help people gather what they could salvage from their homes and to offer food, supplies and comfort. Another crew kept fresh food prepared for all the volunteers and survivors. The large church building was full of makeshift bedding and many people who had lost their homes were staying there along with the volunteers. We had brought bedding and had actually planned to just sleep in the back of the SUV. Kind of romantic, I had thought beforehand, but after a long day of work and sweating, we were happy to go home with a couple we had been working with when they offered us a shower and a place with A/C to sleep.

When we first drove into town, our GPS took us a bit around the outskirts of town so we saw very little destruction. Hub had gone into town with a guy to pick up more tents. He came back very somber just saying "You won't believe it!". He drove me through on the way to the home of our hosts for the night. He was right. It as all very apocolyptic. I expected to see Bruce Willis coming out from behind somewhere. It struck me how mostly void everything was of color. The pictures do not do it justice. Everything was in bits and mangled. Paint was pulled off of most things and trees were stripped of bark. You would be looking at something and realize it was a car. No, two or three cars tangled together. People were sitting on piles around their place to protect it from looters. (Our friend said while she was crawling out from Wal-Mart, that there were already people looting the store.) Everyone looked somber and many still disoriented. I looked at it in unbelief. I actually felt a bit guilty of taking pictures of their nightmare. People had literally been sucked out of the sunroofs of their cars while their seatbelts were still belted. I can't comprehend a force like that.

But I also saw a powerful resilience in people. There were several American flags hung on to pieces of metal and bare branches. On one torn house we saw, someone had spraypainted "We will be okay." We saw other relief centers scattered throughout the city. Lots of people in each of them. On Sunday, Obama came to town. We saw lines of people on the streets waving flags and holding signs that read "God loves Joplin" and "Joplin will rise". It was great for the President to come and acknowledge and comfort these people. Someone made the comment though that so many are so deep in the devastation, that they may not even get the word that he would be there. The devastated area is wide and they are working in from the perimeter to clear. You can barely get to the center areas. That will probably explain for some lost people.

On another note, the President's visit halted most of the work for the day until he had left. Curfew had been set from 9 p.m. until 9 a.m. so no one could even get in the areas in the morning before he arrived due to security. That wasn't good. Many, many people were able to be there because it was a holiday weekend. Hated to lose most of a day and all of the workers that had to leave. Bush was criticized severely for flying over New Orleans as to not interfere with the work. Not sure what the answer is but I guess Presidents just can't win this one.

Anyway, I feel changed a bit by what I saw and experienced. The areas around Joplin are truly beautiful. It did make me note the comparison between the natural beauty that God had created and the man-made creations that was crushed, crumpled, shattered and devoid of color. Our hosts said that the tornado was heading directly toward their beautiful property and then abruptly turned a different way. Their front yards had been cleared that day by teenagers of about 9 leaf bags of little pieces. They found a few personal effects from unknown homes. A few snapshots. I noticed out a back window where it had not been touched. Little pieces and shreds of gray everywhere. There was a piece of sheet metal wrapped around a branch high in a tree. Will probably have to stay there. Looked like a pink top laying on the ground. Mostly, though pieces not 2"x 2".

What a mighty God we worship. People asked "Where was God?" I saw him everywhere. In the power of destruction and in the hands, hearts and faces of people there to help other people. There are lots of stories of sacrifice, heroism, miracles, etc. Lots of hugs and lots of shared tears. That's where God was. Make no mistake about it.

Later.