TOTEally Blessed!!

Toteing Encouragement to those who need it!

Mission trip to Tornado victims

Let me ask you a question. Who is more blessed when doing mission work, the receiver or the giver? Better stated maybe, can you give a blessing without receiving a blessing? I want to share a recent experience that answers those mind boggling questions.

The idea began as we saw Alabama & Tennessee (our sphere of influence) be totally blown away by fierce tornadoes late April. The news showed pictures of the swirling beasts that ravaged and tore through towns and countryside destroying everything in its pathway. With no respecter of persons, it left nothing unscathed. Everything it touched it blew apart. Every person it came in contact with-- changed forever. Some things will never be the same.

How do you help those who have lost everything? How do you comfort those whose loved ones where swirled up into the evil funnel monster never to breathe again? We have no words, as we sat back and helplessly watched on our TVs and listened on the radio to the destruction that transpired… just down the road.

I wanted to help, but seemed helpless in knowing how. I couldn’t offer a roof….I lived too far away for an everyday commute. There was no electricity to cook meals. Day after day, I watched helplessly as victim after victim sorted through their pile of belongings, many in which had to dig through their house pieces first. Wood beams strewn everywhere, from the camera it looked like a bunch of toothpicks! But that pile of toothpicks used to be someone’s house!

A month later…..with a plan in place, three ladies with three youth set off to TOTEally Bless those that God would show us as we headed toward the ravaged tornado eaten land. We had the idea that surely they needed totes to put their few gathered belongings in, and something to put everyday supplies in, as they sit under a tarp on a concrete pad, gone their houses. Or those in shelters would need something to tote around. Even those who had a relative or friend to stay with, as they went back to their forsaken plot, would need something to put any memorabilia they could find in. Though water soaked, perhaps torn and muddied, it still belonged to them. Broken it may be, but if they wanted to keep it, they needed a place. So the TOTE idea was born.

What we saw when we went to the first place, will forever be etched in my mind, leaving its scars on my heart forever….It was a one lane older trailer park. At the beginning you could see damaged trailers, many too unstable to be occupied. Then midway down we stopped and got out our totes. There were workers putting up electric lines. These people, that is, those who remained had been without electricity for a month. Imagine that….

The as I walked down, I saw a baby crib next to a tree near the road. Nailed to the tree were these words: LOT 8…… the lonely crib beneath the words. Can words express my heart, I think not. I went to it tears streaming down my cheeks…….a pile of trailer and contents shoved at the top of the lot, the trailer pad clear……no more home, no more family. I looked around through teary eyes there were more empty concrete pads. At the top was a pile of what someone had called home, a board over the pile with their house number on it. Probably 8-10 trailers, vanished like that….what happened to the people? A lone ball told me one empty pad belonged to a family with children.

I saw toilets tossed on the top of piles, my sense of privacy and indoor conveniences threaten to smother me. I saw a mangled bed frame and springs from another baby crib….where is the baby? Did he or she make it? I had to turn away from the piles of home, it seemed as though I was invading their privacy, though much of the pile was unrecognizable. Everywhere you turned; there was a pureed home site! But occasionally, when you zeroed in….I saw a teddy bear. At the far end pad, a bike…. will the owner ever ride again?

We gave totes to the few people who were in their unstable mobile homes. Some totes we left on door steps. We talked with the workers who were trying desperately to restore power to these trailers. Some of them were volunteers from a nearby church that we had passed. It was totally flattened. I was humbled at their hard work for others.

God had more for me to see….in the middle of the park there was a shack that looked like the middle of a trailer, like maybe the kitchen sitting in the middle of a concrete pad. What I would soon find out it that someone actually lived inside this pieced together hut!! His name was Louie. Louie had an unusual outlook on life, for you see, Louie was blind! He helped me see a lot of things. He did not have any electricity, yet he was happy! His entire square footage could be reached by leaning over, yet he was happy! He had no air conditioning (and it was a hot day!), yet he was happy! He had no refrigeration, no iced tea, or cold milk or ice cream, yet he was happy! He could not get around outside without help, yet he was happy! He was delighted at the simplest of things. He was overjoyed to have company! The tornado had taken his home, yet he was happy!

*God forbid I had a single complaint the rest of the day!*

*Thank you Louie for helping me see happiness is a choice!*

I didn’t think I could take anymore. But God had more for me to see…We went down the road and around the bend…..Nice fancy houses gone….just with a snap. One of the strange things was that you could tell you were entering a tornado area as you approached you could see the striped trees, the uprooted 150 year old oaks, the trees that had been twisted and snapped into. It looked like a war zone! What used to be a beautiful shaded countryside, now a barren wasteland. It was as though a logging company had blazed through cutting down everything in sight and then just left it there! Now again, I was seeing this one month later and still it was as though no time had passed. Huge piles of trees and branches lined the edges of the road.

I couldn’t control my thoughts as I passed the guard hut and gate that went into a gated upper class community. The hut now missing the entire front and part of the roof did a poor job of keeping this community safe. The thought came to me…..no matter how much you guard your belongings…. they can never be completely safe! Tornados are master thieves---nothing keeps them out! No code necessary….they come and go as they please, taking whatever they want!

Down another road we came to a couple of trailers. We parked and got out some totes and began to walk down the road. We stopped at a home where a young man name Juan was working. Again, I was about to be blessed. We gave him a couple of totes. He told us about his daughter and the terrible tornados that had damaged his trailer and roof. But as we inquired about his home, he pointed to across the street. ‘No I don’t live here, but over yonder. I am just here helping my neighbor.’ He said. He had put aside his own needs to help his neighbor who had extensive damage and no insurance. We prayed with him and encouraged him. He has no idea how his joy just to be alive went with me when I left him.

As we crossed the street, yet again, I was to be challenged. A young lady stopped and rolled down her window and asked if she could get us some ice cold water! Boy was I about to just fall apart at her love. Now, I of course, didn’t know her, didn’t even know if she was in a hurry, had an appointment, or was just wandering around helping how she could. But no matter the reason, her obedience touched the deepest rivers of my soul, reminding me of the living water that filled me and I need to be about sharing that living water with everyone I meet. She had to stop what she was doing, change her plans, and delete her agenda to minister to me! WOW!

How many more lessons Lord?….. We left there and went to another devastated subdivision where only two houses were left standing, one of which the roof was collapsed inside and parts of the sides were missing. Not inhabitable but the owners were there getting a few more things. They had the only running bathroom in the whole neighborhood. Though most were gone since their houses were either entirely obliterated or just a few rooms left. This woman was in an insurance battle so no settlement had been made and they were just trying to make it in a rented motel. There were some small children splashing in a kiddie pool in the front yard surrounded by insulation and other debris. They were happy, totally unconcerned about the world around them. That blessed my heart. We left the lady with as much toilet paper as possible and some encouragement as we listened to their story.

We went to the other house on that street, a man Mr. Applebee answered and we were told he was the contact person for that subdivision as people came and went checking on their place and the cleanup crews and so forth. He had a lump in his throat as he shared that he had never seen such a display help and love. I told him that it was nice to put a face to our prayers and he mentioned that he indeed was a blessed man as he looked everyday at his neighborhood and he only had to have the outside of his house replaced and a new roof.

As we drove through the neighborhood, we were speechless. A sobering sight. House after house totally destroyed. There was no privacy as you could see right inside the center of the houses if even that much remained. A life once lived there….

We saw a closet with clothes still hanging on the rack. It was totally amazing with all the wind and destruction and obliteration. I wondered if the family had huddled in that closet and their lives spared??! I was struck dumb as I thought about the bed I had climbed out of and the coffee pot button I had pushed that morning---yes I kissed my coffee pot when I got home. My kitchen aid and dishes……….where were their dishes and appliances? Yes, I felt at that moment like the richest woman on earth, like a queen living in a royal palace compared to what was before my eyes.

*Lord, forgive me for my lack of appreciation and gratitude for conveniences!*

*Lord, forgive me for not valuing my neighbors!*

*Lord, forgive me for my apathy for life!*

*Lord, forgive me for my complaining tongue!*

We made two more stops. One was at a church around the area, in which we went in to see if they knew of other families that might need a tote. We talked with the pastor and he was so touched, he did have some of his own flock who had lost everything. We left him a few totes to bless them with and we left TOTEally Blessed.

We then went to another county and followed the devastation to another trailer park. Besides the dreadful look of trees snapped off everywhere and debris strewn, there was this strange, yet familiar sight. The whole front row of concrete pads were empty! I knew immediately why, it was not because they did not have customers, I wondered if those customers were alive. Indeed the landlord confirmed my suspicion that the whole front row was swiped away. She did not tell me if they had casualties, as that would breach confidence, but looking at the place, surely some of these occupants were in the death toll number. The woman went on to tell us where the storm shelter was and that they had over 270 people in it. When I went outside to get in the van, I looked to where the storm shelter was, the tornado literally went right over their heads straight to the front row!!

She was teary as she told us about that dreadful night. She was glad we brought totes with supplies for they were all still without electricity and just last week had run out of donations to give to their renters.

Hot, tired and thirsty, we climbed back into the church van, we had given away 46 totes that day in hopes to be a blessing to someone…

*But we were the ones TOTEally Blessed!*

I realized as I sat in my air-conditioned home, eating a warm,

home cooked meal, sitting in clean comfy clothes,

drinking a cold glass of iced tea this thought:

Contentment has a price!

Today, I got it for free… Someone else paid for it!

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

I Timothy 6:6-8