Aftermath

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi.

A week ago today was a devastating weather day in Alabama...just in case it's not news everywhere else.

Firstly, I should say that my family and my home were unscathed. We had a few scary moments when the radar showed rotation heading in our general direction, but as the storms got closer it became clear that they were going to miss us. We had a brief period of small hail, some hard rain and a few really strong wind gusts, but nothing really out of the realm of the usual.

Then the power went out. Every supply line coming into the county went down. It came back on in our neighborhood on Monday morning...4 1/2 days later.

We all laughed at my mother about 5 years ago when she gave me and my siblings all emergency radios...with hand crank power. We made good use of that radio, let me tell you. It was our link with the world at large.

The Princess and her fiance, Prince Charming, decided Thursday evening to go to Grandma's in Indiana. The Artist decided to go with them and, given uncertainty on continued availability of water and cell phones, we convinced her to take her two younger siblings with them. They all crammed into her Honda and left Friday morning. I waved them goodbye, then came back into the house and cried in My Sweet Baboo's arms, both of us praying for their safety. It was so hard to see them all leave together, knowing it was exceptional circumstances and extra hazardous, at least in town where there were no stoplights operating and crazy folks running through the intersections. But they made it there and back, arriving home yesterday afternoon.

And MSB and I were home alone for a long weekend. We worked together on some home projects, planned our meals together (did you know you really can bake a thawed frozen pizza on a charcoal grill?), took walks, looked at the amazing display of stars in the very dark sky, and marveled that we really were ok.

Because so many are not.

I'm not gonna post pictures; they're all over the web and a simple search will yield more devastation anyone can handle. We know people whose houses were destroyed. We have heard amazing stories of folks who attend our church who survived in the midst of the destroyed houses.

And we know some who have people dear to them on the list of folks who did not survive.

All other ministries have stopped at church; disaster relief is what we are doing. My job is searching the data base for the streets in the hard-hit areas, trying to identify if anyone there is connected with the church to make sure they are contacted and helped if necessary. Not that people have to be associated with us for us to help them; we just want to make sure folks who ARE associated with us get help if they need it.

I had a mean dentist appointment this morning (rescheduled from last Thursday) and came home to spend some quality time with warm salt water while I wait for the ugly anesthesia to wear off and was surprised to find the internet operating; it's been down at the house since the power went out. Otherwise, I would be at work hunting addresses and running queries and sending names out to the pastors in the field.

I don't have any easy answers to any of this. I don't know why we were spared while dear friends were not. But I do know this: God loves me and I can trust Him.