Blooe

No photoshopped pictures this post, just me rambling on about the events that happened a year ago this week. The week that changed my life in so many ways.

I guess the very first occasion that I remember is Tuesday, April 26th, my best friend/ roommate asked for me to join him for dinner at Lakeside before he headed off to Bible Study that night. I obliged and met him on campus at Lakeside Diner. During that dinner Matt looked at me and said , "Are you ready for the perfect storm?" Thinking he was referring to the movie"The Perfect Storm" I replied, " No, I'm not, Should I be?" He went on to explain to me that there was going to be some bad storms coming through Tuscaloosa on Wednesday and that classes may get cancelled. I didn't think too much about it at the time. It was going to rain that night, but its April in Alabama you get concerned when you don't get rain.

Waking up on the morning of the 27th, it was raining hard. Lightning and thundering but nothing that was too frightening. I remember thinking to myself that we had had several storms like this storm in the past few weeks and I went on my merry way to campus. By midmorning that day, the sky was blue and the temperature was nice. There were only a few signs of what happened that morning. My last class of the day was going to be a review from the TA for the class. Feeling confident in my skills in that class, I skipped the review with the TA opting instead to get lunch with Matt and my friend Brendon at the Beartrap. Because of the expected storms that night, the patio bar and dining area at the Beartrap was closed and we were forced to eat inside. While eating at the Beartrap our waiter came over to apologize that we couldn't eat up on the patio, but Mississippi was having some bad storms going through and that they had to secure all of their patio furniture before the storm made it to Tuscaloosa. After lunch I dropped Matt off back at Shelby for him to go back to work and I returned home. When I made it back to the apartment I turned on the TV and James Spann was already on TV telling people to be ready to take cover. I still didn't think too much of what could happen because all of this happened only two weeks before and a tornado touched down just a mile from my apartment causing very little damage. I got my studying material ready in anticipation for the power going out during the storm so I could study without the distraction from TV or the internet. I plugged in all of my battery powered electronics to charge before I went into Matt's room so I could use Photoshop on his computer while I waited for the storm to pass. I was working for a little while and all of a sudden the power goes out. I go back to my room and grab the hand crank radio that Ryan's mom had given me way back freshman year of college. James Spann's voice came through nice and strong and I took some comfort in hearing a familiar voice that had a good idea of what was going on outside. All of a sudden he was talking about a tornado on the ground in Tuscaloosa. At first he reported that it was Downtown Tuscaloosa, then later he mentioned that DCH Hospital was destroyed by a direct tornado hit ( which thankfully was false) and then he mentioned Alberta City. When I figured that it was headed away from my apartment I headed outside and saw a giant whirling cloud in the sky. I felt sick to my stomach. I knew at the bottom of that giant cloud there was going to be death, destruction, and despair. I went back inside to see that someone had just texted me. Anthony Privette. He lives in Alberta City. Crap. This can't be good. His text read something along the lines of his house taking a direct hit and that a tree was ontop of his house. At that point I felt helpless. About an hour later, James Spann gave Tuscaloosa the all clear. I hopped in my car and made my way towards Anthony's house. While in the car I called my mom to tell her that a tornado had touched down in Tuscaloosa but that I was okay. She told me to be careful and that she loved me and I hung up. I kept trying to call Matt because there was a chance that he was on the road when the tornado came through. Not being able to get through to him, I called his mother and she told me that Matt was okay and that he was at work when the tornado came through. At this point in my drive I had hit traffic. Up ahead of me on Highway 69 was a building that use to sit atop a hill next to the highway. Pieces of this building was now thrown across both sides of the highway. Tuscaloosa PD was already out and was directing traffic off an exit ramp to avoid people driving through the mess. The car next to me was a black Tahoe that had all of its window except the windshield sucked out and all the road signs had fallen over. This was the first signs of damage that i saw, nothing too bad but nothing near what I would see over the next few days. Back at the complex I sat in my car for awhile allowing my phone to charge up complete before I headed back inside. Talking to some of my neighbors I found out that the tornado had ripped apart much of 15th Street around the McFarland intersection. A part of town that I frequent. Krispy Kreme was gone. There were dead babies on the side of the road were some of the things that I heard from my neighbors who had just returned from that part of town. Making it back to my apartment I grabbed some dry snack food for dinner and do the dishes that needed washing. I had to pass the time somehow. During this time I get a call from Brian Kwan and a few others making sure that I was okay. I went to sleep early that night knowing that I had to do something the next day to help out.

The morning of the 28th Matt gets home early and tells me to get ready and that we would head out to Anthony's to help him out. Not knowing what roads were open and which were closed we got to Vetrans Memorial highway and found a little neighborhood. I parked my car in front of nice old ladies house and we got out and walked. We stubbled upon a little culdesac with a huge tree that had fallen in the middle of the road blocking the residents in. We spent the next few hours helping them clear the tree from the road and moving the debris so that they could go in and out. As we were leaving we asked one of the men if we could borrow his axe so that we could use it throughout the day. He let us take his ax on condition that we return it at the end of the day. We agreed and we went on our way. We went farther into the destruction zone and more and more we saw people wandering around like zombies. It felt like I was in a post apocalyptic movie or video game. We found a nice man who had a tree downed in his yard that was blocking in his daughter's car. With his chain saw and his neighbor's chain saw, we were able to clear out the tree in no time. Then we started to help pull the tree that had fallen over the power lines. During this time some basketball players from a local high school came over and helped us move all the lumber across the street for the city to pick up. While we were here I got calls from Crystal making sure that I was okay, I told her I was but that we didn't have power. Once most of the tree was cleared Matt and I continued on our way to Anthony's house. We walked for a while and I finally figured out where I was. Leland Lanes where we use to bowl lay in shambles to my right, a box truck was on its side right in front of me, power lines and street lights were thrown all over the place. It was then that I got my first real glimpse of the destruction. Traffic posts were down, those that were still standing didn't have a stop light on it. We made it to Anthony's house by late afternoon. His house was okay, but a HUGE tree had toppled at his parent's house. We make our way over there and when he said HUGE tree, he was completely understating it. This tree was massive. The massive tree thankfully had toppled away from the house, unfortunately it trapped Anthony's brother, Ryan's car in the drive. We cleared what we could from the backyard and spent some time with the Privett(e) family before we headed back to our apartment. As we were driving home that night we turned on a road that had travelled on many times before but we didn't recognize it until I turned to matt and said, " Oh wow, this is Hargrove." and after that we could not believe all the destruction the tornado did to the heavily wooded area of town. That night Daniel Castillo stayed with us because he was out past curfew for the affected areas where he lived. Using his phone I was finally be able to update my facebook status for the first time.

Destruction like this was everywhere

The following morning, April 29th. I took Daniel back to his place at the Village. By this time National Guard was everywhere and I was not allowed to take him all the way into the complex like he wanted. When I got back to the apartment, Seth Courington had arrived and was sitting on my couch. It was so nice to see a friendly face after so much had happened over the past few days. Rachel Steed came over that morning also. We headed to the Forest Lake area. We parked in the parking lot of what use to be a church. All the trees that use to stand hundred of feet tall had all been snapped and stripped of all branches and leaves. It looked like a bunch of tooth picks sticking up. The first house that we walked upon belonged to a young couple with a young boy and the mother was expecting again. Some other university students were already there helping them out. The roof of the house was no where to be found. None of the walls were standing up completely straight. Insulation and wood was everywhere. The young mother came up and told us to salvage what we could, not to worry if we break anything because she could replace it later, but to keep an eye out for the her belly cast she had made when she was pregnant with her first child. She told us it was hanging on the wall in the boy's room before the storm. Only problem now was that entire back wall of the house was blown away. That belly cast could be anywhere from in the house to the other end of the debris field behind the house. After a few hours at the house the belly cast was found and miraculously had only one minor tear on it.

Matt cleaning up a family heirloom piano at the first house on 4/29/2011

Later that day Amber's fiance, Matt Staggs, along with Scott Parrish, Seth's mom, brother, and uncle all arrived to meet us in Forrest Lake. We walked along the street trying to see who needed our help. All through the neighborhood people had hung up crosses, American flags, Alabama flags, or Crimson Tide flags that had obviously been in the rubble as encouragement for those working in the area. It was truly a sight to see. We came up to another house where a middle ages couple lived. Their house wasn't hit directly but a huge tree had fallen in their yard and was now lying in their living room. The only reason I remember this house was because this man had hundreds and hundreds of vinyl records in his living room and he asked us to go to clear them out for him as they had just signed a lease on an apartment for temporary housing. We were glad to be out of the sun for a while and was really encouraged by how the positive the couple was in such a trying time. Another house we were at had its roof torn off and not much other damage to it. We went up to the attic of this house and could see the destruction from above and it was very devastating. I never want to see anything like that again in my life. It felt like no matter what we did, it wouldn't make a dent into the overall recovery, but we had to push on.

Matt, Seth, and I after a full day's worth of work

After a day of volunteering.

One thing that really hit me in the days immediately following the tornado were the people and businesses that were walking the street giving things out to anyone and everyone they saw. While we were at the house moving vinyls out to the trucks, Verizon Wireless came by and gave us water and a little bag of snacks. Moe's walked around giving out burritos. People from churches in other states rode around on ATVs passing out water and food. From waters to energy bars to lunch. Never asking for anything in return. It was just amazing to see how every citizen of the city stood up to the challenge that Mother Nature had given us. And help poured in from all over the country that week too. Water bottles bearing the colors of LSU, Vandy, and UGA were everywhere. Our SEC rivals during the football season sending help in anyway they could. And most encouraging was seeing college students clad in orange and blue in the destruction zone clearing rubble and helping the citizens of Tuscaloosa. The students that had come up from Auburn had finals the next week and to see them give up time they could be studying to help their chief rivals was really encouraging.

That Sunday Calvary held just one service. It was weird walking into the service with everyone in shorts and t shirts and work clothes when just the week before everyone was dressed at their best for Easter Sunday. I sat in the first row of the right transept in the church with Matt, Rachel, and Seth. Chris and Dr Lovett led the church in a time of prayer. Then Alan started to play Chris Tomlin's "God of this City" at that point in the service I couldn't hold it in any longer. I stayed in my seat and cried like I hadn't in a long time. A few seconds after the song started, a felt Rachel Steed's hand on my shoulder and her voice telling me that it was okay to just let it out. If you have never heard the song before it starts with " You're the God of this city, You're the king of these people." and the chorus reads, " Greater things have yet to come, Greater things are still to be in this city." It was the perfect song for a city asking ," Why did this happen?" With all the despair and destruction that i had witnessed over the past few days, it was nice to come to the realization that God was in full control of everything that had happened that week.

Sometime in 2010 Calvary partnered with the Tuscaloosa Mayor’s Office in the Hope Initiative. In short, the Hope Initiative is a program for groups of people to “adopt” communities with high crime rates, low test scores, and overall poor quality of life. Calvary Baptist adopted

the Rosedale Community, a community that was completely destroyed by the tornado. If you

were to have seen Rosedale on April 28th, you would have said that there was no way that

anyone would have survived in that area, but thank the Lord, there were very minimal fatalities

and majority of the community members made it through the storm. After the storm, Calvary

did not want to abandon the citizens of Rosedale, instead we worked with the Housing Authority

to “adopt” 25 families from the Rosedale community and help them move into their new

apartment as soon as they got them. Calvary promised to bring them anything from paper towels,

to beds, to sofas. Anything to help the citizens get back on their feet after the storm. During what

should have been the week of finals, I was able to work with some friends delivering furniture

to families that had lost everything. I had the awesome time volunteering with some close friend

and together impacting the lives of tornado victims. There is something about the heat and sweat

that brought us closer together. Maybe it was the fact that we knew we were no longer hanging

out to benefit ourselves, but that we were enjoying each other’s presence because we were

serving the Lord together.

Part of the Calvary Delivery Crew for the summer.

Seth tying us down before we head off in the Hatmobile

In the days that followed 25 families grew to 35 families grew to 50 families grew

to 69 families. In the beginning we had so many donations that we did not know what to do with

all of the stuff that came in. Near the midway point we may have everything we needed to make

a delivery to a family but we would be missing one item, like a bed. Without fail, someone would call within

the next hour saying that they had a bed to donate. Instances like that happened all summer long. If you want, ask me for the story of the Twin XL mattresses. lol.

God never failed to provide us with the supplies we needed to deliver to the storm victims.

Sitting back and reflecting this summer, I have realized all the small things that God had done in

my life to prepare me for this summer: 1) When I was a boy I was in the Boy Scouts. One of the

things that we had to learn was how to tie knots. Hated to do it because I was a city boy, why

would I ever have to tie a knot that did not involve a shoe lace? I have had to tie more knots this

summer to secure deliveries to the trailer than I have ever had before in my life. 2) My parents

have always refused to give me a GPS system because they never really saw a need for it. I

always argued that I needed because I was in college and we drive a lot of places that we don’t

usually go so it would help me navigate through strange cities. This past Christmas they finally

got me one. Never knew that I would have to use it so much in the city that I have called home

for the past five years. I use to think that the phrases "God is faithful" and “The Lord will provide” was just some phrase that Christians say to make others feel better, but it came true time and time again . I have never experienced that statement in a greater fashion that I have this past summer. The Lord did provide over and over and this is just one example of how He did.

Some people know this but I have had been pretty down over the past year if not a little

more. There were many personal issues that I had been dealing with and I had found myself just

going through the motions, maybe being mad at God for not doing the way things I wanted, or

just living my life the way I wanted to. I had been so focused on myself and my short comings

and my own insecurities that I lost sight of the bigger things in life. I no longer cared for “the

last, the least, and the lost. (thanks Chris Brooks)” but rather “me, me and more me.” and

through it all I had lost focus of God. I could have very easily been caught up in that storm and

would have left this life focusing on myself, leaving no real impact on the lives of the people in

this city. Thankfully God provided the best roommate that always spoke truth into my life, even when I didn't want to hear it. I thank God that he gave him the paitience to deal with me, cause I can be pretty stubborn. I am really lucky that I can call him my best friend also. But through it all, I am really sad that it took a tornado to make me realize how self centered I was living.

This summer God had really provided me with some great mature Christian people

that I would have never met. Mr. Hatmaker was in charge of the delivery operation and one of

the smartest guys I have ever met. He never missed a day and he trusted his car to a bunch of

college kids to drive all over town to make deliveries. He is a true man of God and even though

it was really hard at times, he preserved through it. He gave up a summer by the lake with his bride to help the hurting people in the neighborhood that he grew up in.Tricia was pretty much second in command.She kept track of all the donations and prepped every delivery that we had to make (among

393230983 other duties that she had). Oh did I mention that she is a mother of two young boys serve the city that she has adopted as her new home. She brought her boys along with her many days and they got an earlytaste of what it means to serve the community. And her boys are pretty stinkin’ awesome.Tony came from Kansas and spent the summer helping out with Calvary's relief efforts. He knew no one here in the south but he packed his bags and drove 12 hours because he could not just let not pass the victims by. even though we had our differences, I don't know how in the world we would have finished all of this without you and your moving expertise. You just have to learn that the bama loop adds security to the tie down. ;-)

Got to get some play in there too

As I think back over the summer I am just so proud of all the things God has done through Calvary Baptist Church. Calvary has put its faith into practice and it has been a place where we are not afraid to love and minister to people who dont act and think like us. It has become a place where we want to live out the love of Christ to all people, starting with those right outside our doors. The members of the church gave sacrificially to make sure that the families that we had adopted would be provided for. And the best part about it is that they do not do it as part of a giant Christian- making plot, but they are in it to build a relationship with individual families and to let the love of Christ speak for itself. Calvary has provided for me friends that have helped shape my life to be more and more like Christ. Dr Lovett, Chris, Alan, and Amber have challenged the way I view God, the world, and myself. Reminding me that it's more than going to church but being the church by caring for the last, the least, and the lost. Because at the end of the day, I am blessed so that I can be a blessing to others. To my friends that have known for awhile. Thanks for serving along with me. Thanks for showing me faith in action. Thanks for showing true love to me at my low points so that I could show love to the people that I have come into contact with this summer. You guys have been amazing to me and I don't thank the Lord enough for you guys.