Flood

I feel like I've been in a bit of a fog since the flood hit last weekend. I want to write about it, but I'm not even sure where to begin. The damage is so widespread and the devastation so total that it's hard to put any of it into words. On Thursday a friend and I put together some sack lunches and just drove through one of the harder hit areas around lunch time. We were a bit worried that we had made too many, but it didn't take long to realize that was far from being a problem. We handed out 50 lunches in less than 30 minutes. People were working so hard, many had not even thought about food yet and were grateful someone else had taken care of that for them.

Between the piles of ruined furniture, carpet, clothes, dry wall, and other assorted pieces of lives washed away, the area truly looked like a war zone. The muddy water line reached above windows and doors in some places, and the gray-colored cars still parked in their parking spaces spoke to the fact that these people didn't have time to even drive away. Most were evacuated by boat. And the raging waters did not discriminate - I even saw a brand new Jaguar that had obviously been completely submerged at some point in time.

The people that I saw that day were just like anyone else. Except they had just lost everything. One lady I handed a lunch to in turn hugged me, thanked me, kissed me, asked for my name and said she would pray a special blessing for ME...when she was the one who just lost everything. She simultaneously told me "We'll get through this - it's just stuff" and then through tears as she hugged me said "this is so HARD."

God reminded me in a BIG way last week that our stuff, no matter how nice, how expensive, how much or how little - it is all so temporary. In the end, whether we lose it in a flood or a fire or we simply pass on from this life, we can't take it with us. Whether we drive a Jaguar or an old beater. Whether we live in a fancy home or an apartment. These people are grateful to be alive, grateful to still have their families intact. And Nashville has stepped up in a big way to help them start to rebuild their lives. And inspite of the devastation, there are some beautiful things that come about in the face of such tragedies. My friend Amy summed it up nicely in a post (with pictures) on her blog. I also love the verse she shares at the end.

Also, this video will give you a better idea of what's really been going on (double click on the box below to watch it in another window - that way you'll be able to read the quotes):



On a much lighter note...my sister posted some great pictures of our weekend together. Check them out here!