This past weekend we had the opportunity to serve at the P&G sponsored Duracell Power Relief Truck and the Tide Loads of Hope truck in Joplin, MO. A category 5 tornado ripped through Joplin last Sunday, and has been reported to be the worst tornado since the science of reporting tornados started in 1950. Given that Joplin is only about 2 hours away from Fayetteville, we felt it was the very least we could do to go up and help run the operations P&G was sponsoring.
To say the town is devastated would be a dramatic understatement. I/we have no experience with being in the aftermath of a disaster, but I can tell you I don't hope to ever see anything like it again. The pictures you will see below are from basically the center of town - where there used to be a bustling hub of stores such as Walmart, Home Depot, etc. and a number of subdivisions. The best example I could come up with would be like taking Fields Ertel and wiping out every commercial and residential building for a 12 mile stretch.
The feelings and emotions seeing something like this brings about are almost too much for words. I am, thankfully, a novice in dealing and communicating such emotions but I felt it was worth explaining the scene we witnessed in Joplin on Sunday.
It would be easy to focus on the devastation. As you can see below, it would be hard pressed to blame these people if they felt as if there is no hope and no explanation for what has happened to them. But that is not the town we served - the town we served was full of hope, ready for the work ahead of them, and most importantly, when it seemed the best and easiest thing to do would be to turn away from God - they are taking a firm outward spoken stance and turning directly in to God and all he has in store for them. Quite simply there was a palpable presence of God's love everywhere we went in Joplin.
We heard countless stories of people thanking God for this experience and what it has taught them. There were numerous stories of survivors turning their lives to Christ through their interactions with faith based volunteers. It was clear not one person was concerned about themselves - everyone was concerned about the well being of others. The entire situation was one of selflessness.
I've often heard the human spirit is much stronger than one can know in times of extreme disaster or need - and what we saw in Joplin more than proved that statement. There are years and years of hard work and perseverance ahead of the citizens of Joplin - but I left with no doubt that they are not alone in their fight and it is a fight they will win.
On the way up to Joplin I told Nicki I was not confident that I would have an appropriate response if someone who lost everything they owned asked me why a good and loving God would do something like this. After the experience we had I left with a confident answer: it is times like these when God's love is at its strongest, His word is spread the easiest, and people are drawn to Him in the fullest. While there are literally storms in this life, it is the calm after the storm where God can be felt and the story is completed.
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| This flag, along with a cross of an altar of a Catholic church which remained standing amidst the rubble have become symbols of the resolve of the citizens of Joplin |
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| From what we were told - everything you see here used to be a neighborhood. |
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| This is a gas station right at the beginning of the storm's path |
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| Amazing to see the interior rooms of almost every house remained standing after the storm. |
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| Another area where a neighborhood used to exist |
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