On April 27, 2012, a mile-wide tornado ripped through Tuscaloosa, Alabama. As it roared down her street, my friend Caroline, her roommate, and her dog huddled in her shower, listening, praying fervently, helpless to do anything but wait. It came within 100 feet of her apartment, then abruptly turned left.
So many died that day…but they were spared.
Less than a week later, Connie, myself, and another AIM staff member drove through Alabama, looking for ways AIM could get involved and help. We spent the night in Tuscaloosa, at Caroline’s apartment. The next day, she directed us through what was left of the town. I watched as my friend pointed her camera out the window, refusing to look except through a viewfinder. The horrific damage was too personal, too overwhelming… too close a call. As we drove down one street, she pointed at a pile of rubble and said, “That’s Bella’s [her schnauzer] groomer. I left her collar there last week. Guess I won’t be getting it back now.”
I was angry, angry because I couldn’t help her the way I wanted to. I wanted to take the pain from her and replace it with joy. I wanted the memory of that deadly freight train to disappear from her mind completely; for her not to look out her window and see just how close she came to death–and the horrible reality that others did not escape.
Fast forward a year and a week. I’ve spent the past few days in Tuscaloosa once again, this time helping decorate for Caroline’s wedding. On Saturday, she wed a marine named Joe. When I saw her last May, she had no idea she’d be getting married just a year later. At the time, she was surrounded by death, only beginning the journey of healing from what she experienced.
And in the place of that death, God brought new life.
Watching her this week… her joy, the way her face lights up with hope…. the way she laughs more freely. She doesn’t need to hold the lens before her eyes anymore.
To me, Caroline’s story is… well, Easter. Life where there had been death. Our God is a God of Restoration. This week was a beautiful reminder of His goodness, and His power.
He makes all things new.
Congratulations to Joe and Caroline Goll! May you continue to see His restoring work in your lives, and may your marriage be a beautiful reminder to the world–and to yourselves–of God’s great, unconditional love.
(Above left… the best picture I have of Caroline and Joe together, with Don and Connie Rock. Above right is Connie with Caroline. Connie was a bridesmaid as well as decorator for the wedding).
“For the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost”. Luke 19:10
Wedding Decorations by Connie Rock of Connie Rock Designs.
