Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Alabama Tornados

Last Wednesday afternoon was anxiety-filled for much our my beautiful state of Alabama. In the past few months I have heard of earthquakes in New Zealand killing many people and the tsunami in Japan killing thousands. Never did the fact cross my mind that Alabama had the potential for any real natural disasters. People here are used to hearing the tornado sirens sound. At most we expect a small tornado that destroys a trailer or two. This was obviously not the case last week.

I watched a live feed of the giant tornado as it obliterated the city of Tuscaloosa knowing that I had good friends in its path. It was an afternoon spend in prayer. Several tornados went just around us here in Montevallo, and Birmingham was hit very hard. I got texts messages from friends who thought they might be experiencing their last few moments on earth. "If I don't make it through this I just want yall to know that I love you..." This is not something that calms your heart when you see the rotation on the weather map just over your friends area of town!

The next day a couple of my roommate's friends from Tuscaloosa came to my house in Montevallo to charge their phones. I heard first hand from a student who had been pulling crushed dead bodies out of rubble the night before. I heard of people who's bones were protruding from their skin... or whose skin was literally falling off after the debris caught in the wind was thrown at them. This is the kind of stuff you don't hear about on the news.

The reason I am saying this is to remind everyone to keep praying for the people effected in Alabama. As the media quickly moves on to new stories it is easy to forget that it happened. People are still in shock in many areas. Its is almost a week later and thousand still don't have power or safe water to drink. Keep praying for the people here, and that God would work mightily in the hearts of people effected!




The 1.5mile wide tornado passed by downtown Birmingham.