the juxtaposition of nightmare & hope

We just wrapped up day four of cleaning up the city and I have to say, my friends and I are ex-haus-ted. My legs are absolutely covered in bruises and scratches, my body is completely sunburned (despite the spf 50) , and nearly all athletic clothing I own is completely destroyed BUT, these have been days WELL worth the sore bodies. (If you're wondering how to help, you could definitely send some masseuses our way :) For the past few days, a core group of us has met up at 8 am and headed out in trucks full of waters, groceries, boxes, generators, tarps, and young twenty-somethings ready to rev up some chainsaws. So far we've worked in approximately fifteen different locations, helping families scavenge for belongings, tearing down trees, and hauling the remnants of Tuscaloosa into safe keeping. We've kind of formed a schedule for our day which ends, much to my delight, with climbing into the comfortable truck, and heading to Moes BBQ for some dinner and cold drinks. 

I've been staying at the boys' house because the city has been so unsafe lately. All of my neighbors have "You loot, I'll shoot" signs spray pained on the front of their houses and so, since I neither have roommates living here nor a gun, I decided to re-locate. It's been really great to connect with such a random group of folks here and spent the time together. It's like we're becoming a little family :)

With each day, the reality of what just happened becomes more real. As I sat upon someone's front door atop a huge pile of trash yesterday, I surveyed the damage in front of me and was brought to tears because I couldn't count how many houses I saw. The places where people probably fell in love, got into fights, went for refuge, made a sandwich, saved up for their whole lives, brought home their first child, etc etc.... were all indistinguishable heaps muddled together in a mess of turmoil. It wasn't really until two nights ago when I stopped running around that I really sat down, thought about it, and started grieving this situation. I only tell you that because... my house is perfectly fine... I can't imagine how people who were hit feel. Wow... 

One of the women we've been helping, Model, just moved here two months ago from New Orleans in order to escape the reality of all she just encountered with Katrina. She went back to New Orleans last weekend to get her Mom (so they could live together in Tuscaloosa) only to return to the leftovers of the tornado. A ziplock back of her medical bills was just found... in Birmingham. One of the guy's close friends, a Phi Mu, was just found in a field the other day, thrown from her house down the street. Today I asked a family if there was anything I could do to help them move and they requested I go looking for their son beneath the debris.... Never again in my life do I EVER want to do that again.Can you imagine? I walked around looking for body parts while saying ".....hello?" Guys! That's absurd! I don't know how many total are dead now (I honestly don't think I can take watching the news at the end of the day) but rumor has it that 400 are missing or unidentified... Four hundred. Holy smokes. 

The thing is, these piles aren't getting much smaller. When I first walked up and saw everything that happened, I honestly thought it was really sad but that it wouldn't take long to clean up. After working with some of the same families for the past four days though, I'm completely sick of working (and so is my body!) and frustrated at how slow the process is. 

Some great news, however, is that a local church (which I visited this morning) is putting up a prayer tent at a park right near McFarland where they will be doing free counseling and prayer. If you've read/heard ANYTHING I've talked/written about this year, it's that I've fallen in prayer for the first time in my life. I cannot wait for it to open up tomorrow because I am so so so eager to hug and love on and pray with broken people who, more than ever, need a hefty dose of some Jesus in their lives.

I savor the moments playing with these beautiful, hopeful children ( if for only a moment to take away from the stress they're experiencing), looking into people's eyes, and seeing the community be real with each other. There are no masks needed in this type of situation. No one has the energy to pretend. I love it and I am soaking up as many opportunities as possible to dive in head-on to these people's hearts. I am so so so lucky to be in Tuscaloosa and a part of this. I've considered going home (to Atlanta) to relax many times but, truly, I don't want to go home. I want to be here. I want to be helping, not because I'm a good person, but because God is surly at work and it's incredible to see. 

I know there is more news but... I'm ready to go laugh with some people and forget about the day a little bit. Everything is going to be ok. Tomorrow we're considering taking the day off. Students who all had to leave town (because the University told them they had to) are flooding back in to help. Maybe we'll let all of those fresh bodies go wear themselves out for tomorrow and then we'll jump back in on Wednesday. 

Goodnight guys. Thanks for all of your love and texts/calls/emails. If you want to know the best way to help, ship any and everything you can think of to Tuscaloosa ( we need it ALL: gloves, duct tape, tarps, chainsaws, boxes, thick trash bags, shoes, clothes, diapers, toothbrushes, deodorant, and on and on) OR pray (hey-oh) OR come help! 

Check out Isaiah 58 around verse 10 and on... and Hebrews chapters 10-12 I think it is... def 11 and 12. That's where we've all been camping out and talking about lately. Good stuff! Love love