since May 22

We were up in Joplin visiting one of our sister churches yesterday. It's been since the Spring that we've visited the area; we haven't been up there since the tornado struck on May 22. We had a few minutes to drive around, so we cruised all the way up 26th Street. Chills seethed through my whole self, my heart thumped, and I could feel myself breathing really fast. It was completely unnerving driving past homes and schools, over hills and through stop lights we simply didn't recognize anymore. That super cell absolutely changed the face of everything in its path. You could see St. John's Mercy Hospital from the corner of Main and 26th, and they are exactly one mile apart. We drove past an old friend's house, one that we knew had been a total loss and was right in the path of the storm. We got to the only stone house along 26th Street in the general area we knew her house stood. But that wasn't it (?!). So we turned around and only recognized where her house had formerly stood because her driveway was still there. As we explained our experience, this short drive 6 months after the storm, everyone we talked to kept saying, "Oh, it's much better now that it was."  But homes still stand, bathrooms, basements, pillars completely exposed.

As we ended our little drive, it was undeniable that progress had been made. Trees were gone, the landscape was completely overturned, but there were homes being repaired, restored, rebuilt; new trees were being planted. There were signs everywhere of the locals' appreciation for the hard work of volunteers: stars were staked in the ground along the road, there was one huge sheet of particle board that was spray painted, "We love (HUGE HEART) our voluteers!"

I never want to forget how tragically people's lives have been effected by that storm, how very powerful natural disasters can be, how, even 6 months (probably years) later, prayers for successful rebuilding and restoration of families and their livelihood need to be lifted up. Neither do I want to forget to thank our great God for the enduring spirit of a community that is still recovering.