Picture Day

I have to confess that I have been discouraged, wondered if we had done the wrong thing by coming. We have continued to pray every morning for God's Will, His Timing, and His direction. This morning we got our first phone call. Someone who had got our card last night at Light Up Joplin. We met them at the Catholic church....or what's left of it. Seems to be a popular place because as you will see from the photos that the only thing remaining is the cross. Someone has hung a huge tattered flag in a "used to be" tree. You will see how the bark has been ripped off the tree.
    The children belong to Sally, they are her grandchildren. The tornado barely missed Sally's home, but destroyed other homes of her family members. Immediately after the tornado was over she was out with these children, trying to give aid to others. One of her family members was the infant that was trapped in Wal Mart, you may have heard about him. He survived. Had her grandchildren not been with her, their fate could have been different. In the picture behind Sally is the nursing home where her mom had lived. There are numerous wheel chairs scattered about the area. I didn't even realize it had been a nursing home until today. Sally's Mom had died prior to the tornado. She couldn't talk about it without tears....I think it was because she was so thankful that her mom didn't have to be at the nursing home during the tornado but had already gone Home.
   The other woman is Lisa. Lisa didn't lose her home, but many of her family were affected and sustained great loss. Being with these ladies and the children was like being with old friends. They were such sweet people and we had the opportunity to talk to them about their relationship with the Lord. They were so   thankful                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              thankful and felt so blessed because of the Lord's protection in their lives.
    We went to another church today...Wildwood Baptist. They have designated their church as a "Hope Station". At this church they had set up a part of their building for medical needs, and had all kinds of medical supplies and people there to help you. As we walked through their building we saw that their Sunday School rooms had been turned into living quarters. There were both volunteer workers and homeless families staying there. Their kitchen was full of food and water and other supplies where they cooked meals daily to feed the volunteer workers, families and anyone else that dropped by.
    We are continually amazed at the volunteers, and church members who are daily attending to the needs of the community. Then, while in the parking lot of Forest Park Baptist, a church maybe the size of Green Acres, we met a few more families where some people from the Dallas area had a tent set up just handing out food.People were dropping in from every direction and they were giving out great looking huge burritos!!
    Pray for Lisa, and Sally and their families and those sweet children. And pray for Jim who we met in the parking lot tonight. He and his wife lost everything and are staying in this motel. But he was praising God for His Generous Provision in that they had enough insurance on their house that now they can help others!! What a self-less thought.