By now images of the tornadoes that tore through the South on Wednesday night have reached all of us. Hopefully none of you (or your loved ones) found yourself in its path. Wednesday night I sat in front of the television working on support letters, watching the tornadoes move closer and closer to Ga. When the weatherman said “Tuscaloosa”, my heart clenched. A friend of mine is a grad student at Bama, and all I could do was pray that she was safe. Surely she was. She had to be.
My friend was able to call her mother, who told us that she was safe but that her street took a direct hit. The next day she was able to get to electricity, charged her phone, and updated us via FB. She lives on the street with the worst damage in the entire state. When the mile wide tornado roared through, it came within 20 yards of her apartment and abruptly turned. She was spared, as was her building… her dog.
But so many other lives lost.
I’m celebrating my friend’s life today, feeling guilty at my relief while knowing that so many others are deeply grieving the ones who lost their lives. Trying not the ask the hard questions that don’t have easy answers, and most of all, wondering if there’s anything I can do to help.
Just as in 2005 after Katrina and then again in 2010 with Haiti, AIM is preparing to mobilize teams to Alabama. But to do that we need to gather information, set trips up. On Tuesday, May 2nd, I am going with Connie Rock and Tonya Norman to Alabama to do just that. It’s a fact finding, information gathering mission that will equip AIM to send teams to do Tornado Relief.
I don’t need to raise support for this trip; I just wanted to ask you to pray. Pray for God to lead us and for us to ask the questions He wants us to ask, for us to be able to get everything we need to set the trips up. Pray for our ministry while there… as we hear stories and do what we can to help. And most of all, pray for those in Alabama as they begin to rebuild and start anew.
Here’s a recent video of the damage of this tornado…
