None of Self and All of Thee

I know that most everyone here knows about the monster tornadoes that ripped through the South Wednesday evening. I know that a lot of you have probably suffered damages, or you know personally people who have. There is a congregation in Tuscaloosa that has lost their building to the monster tornado that ripped through there. The Central church of Christ was completely ravaged and we decided, almost spur of the moment {as I am sure many things have been lately… you can’t really plan extensively for things like this}, that we would try to get a group together to take supplies up to Tuscaloosa and help the Central church of Christ as much as we possibly could.

Yesterday was a busy day for many of us as the congregation here, as many as we could get in touch with, worked hard to gather supplies and basic necessities to distribute to those in need in Tuscaloosa. Our kitchen area was filled to bursting with clothes, food, toiletries, candles, diapers, and so much more.

You have to understand… we had about 8 hours to collect all this stuff. This is also around the time when people were getting off work or for some still working. We weren’t able to call everyone up but those whom we did call… boy did they deliver! We are SO proud to be associated with this giving, selfless congregation. What a blessing!

Anyway, so we went to bed after midnight and we were up at 6:45 rushing to get ready. This included getting ourselves ready and making sure we had everything ready for Benjamin to go to the babysitter’s house. We were so blessed by Mrs. Amelia who agreed promptly to keep him all day for us on such short notice. I am serious she was here around like 9PM last night and we asked her then and she was so happy to oblige. This meant that we could both go with the folks to Tuscaloosa to help and not have to worry about Benjamin getting in the way. We toyed with the idea for a while of bringing his stroller so he could sit in it and everything but once we got there… it would not have been possible or safe for him to be there.

We set off around 7:40 for Tuscaloosa. It’s about an hour’s drive for us and we made good timing I’d say. Once we got into the city you could start seeing the destruction but it was really getting heavier the closer we got to the church building. As we were driving I could feel my heart drop to the pit of my stomach as I saw the houses and buildings that were just leveled to the ground, and the trees and electric poles that had been felled. Members of the National Guard were blocking off some roads {hummers, heavy-duty guns, the works} that were impassable to the public. We finally got to the building and I was … speechless. There are no adequate words to describe what we saw. A picture speaks a thousand words, so here are a few thousand for you:

{one of the soldiers hung his jacket on an up-turned desk outside to better help out}

{The church van crushed by the steel beams}

{church bus also crushed}

{can you believe it?}

{mattress hanging on a tree}

{I read that there were tons of old, old trees all over this neighborhood – gone.}

{can you tell that the wall is leaning? there is a sign that warns you that the wall could very well fall at any given moment}

{there is glass EVERYWHERE.}

{there is another chandelier tangled up against the wall too}

{looking at the neighborhood}

{National Guard at the end of the street}

{this was upstairs in a classroom that as you can tell was blown pretty much away. Carl took this and he says that it was just totally undisturbed. Isn’t that crazy?}

{another shot from upstairs looking out at the houses surrounding}

Absolutely incredible… considering there were six college-aged members in the building at the time of the tornado, and they reportedly said that it lasted about 15-20 seconds… and that is all it took for this tornado to rip this beautiful building apart.

I’m going to be completely honest with you, though. It wasn’t the total destruction of this building that touched my heart, nor the rubble that used to be houses littering the streets. What touched my heart more than anything else was the fact that this congregation of the Lord’s people were not concerned with their building. Yes, there were people bringing out things as they could to salvage, but most people were not concerned with the building. Instead, they were feeding fellow tornado victims. I watched as they had an assembly line of people packing lunches of hotdogs and hamburgers into grocery bags, including a slip of paper that personally invited the people who would receive these to worship with the church of Christ in their area. These lunches were passed out to people everywhere in the area. And not only that but they had tables and tables of clothes and toiletries and diapers and food and other things for people to come and get what they needed.

I couldn’t help but to think that this congregation was being that light on the hill, shining through this dark time in so many people’s lives. This is what Christians should do in the face of such destruction. Use it as an opportunity to reach out to others and show them the love of God.

Like many others in Alabama I am sure, I left there changed, and for the better.

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Would you like to help? Your prayers are valued more than anything, but if you would like to help in monetary efforts, here are a few links to check out:

http://www.servealabama.gov/2010/2011%20Tornadoes/Response.aspx – The Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/04/alabama_tornadoes_how_you_can.html – A list of places you can donate to in Alabama
http://www.alredcross.org/index.asp?IDCapitulo=DRGYJ0Q5XZ – The American Red Cross
{Call: 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) and you will be prompted to a menu that includes financial donations
Text: "Red Cross" to 90999.}
http://www.everribbon.com/ribbon/view/442 - To specifically donate to the church for their rebuilding.

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Higher than the highest heaven,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered:
“None of self, and all of Thee.”
None of self, and all of Thee,
None of self, and all of Thee,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered:
“None of self, and all of Thee.”

Morning Glories: Be Still

“Be still, and know that I am God:”
Psalm 43:10a

There are some times in our life when we can easily lose our heads and our minds in situations. There are times when you feel lost and alone and feel as if you are in the depths of despair. These words from our Heavenly Father should be words that we use to comfort ourselves. “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Find comfort and calm in knowing that God is always in control. Sometimes things happen in our life that we can’t understand and we can’t control and we can’t keep from happening because that’s just how things are sometimes. But know that God is still God, He is still in control, and we can still lean on Him and draw comfort from Him.

Pass it on! If you know someone who is hurting, in any way, pass the words along to them. I hope you will all have a blessed day!

A Plea for Prayers

I know that you all have seen on the news and on the internet all the destruction that happened last night all across the beautiful state of Alabama. Please keep Alabama in your prayers. I don’t know what the current death toll is but I am certain that today has been a very hard day for many people. There are people who are still unaccounted for, and people who have been left with … absolutely nothing. There are families mourning loved ones lost, and individuals suffering injuries. Please, pray.

We drove out to bring food to a family who attends where we attend today. The house belonging to the son was torn through, but the other house stood seemingly untouched. The destruction on the way... incredible. You don't really "appreciate" the fierce power of the storm until you see the path it makes. And this is likely a mere taste compared to other places the storms hit. I apologize for bad quality! My camera's battery was dead so I had my phone to take pics only. Here are a few:

Trees were ripped up out of the earth, snapped in half, twisted and uprooted and just mangled. You think of how strong tree roots are and how deep they go, and then think what kind of force could just pluck them out of the ground and leave them there like a pile of tooth picks.

That’s just a taste of the destruction, and certainly not the worst.

Friends, please. Pray.

{And just so nobody thinks the worst, we are fine. The tornadoes were seemingly all around us but never in our town and we are so thankful. Also, the friends we were visiting today were all okay, just suffered a lot of property damage.}

Hubby will be headed out with a group from the congregation to help clean up at the Central church of Christ in Tuscaloosa, whose building was severely damaged. Please pray for their efforts.

Wordless-ish Wednesday

{taken today}

Please say a prayer for those who have been affected by the storms.
I have seen footage of the devastation and it is unreal.

And say a prayer as we wait for the storms to pass as well.

Morning Glories: Seek to be Restored

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”
Psalm 51:10-12

I can’t read these verses without singing the song in my head. Do you know which song I’m talking about? It’s one of my favorites. I love it. I love these verses because the psalmist perfectly portrays our complete reliance on God, especially in our darker times.

Nobody is perfect. Christ Jesus is the only One who lived on this earth and lived it perfectly. He was in always tempted as we are, yet without sin! {Hebrews 4:15}

We do fall, we all do. {Romans 3:23} And when we do, where do we go? We go to God {at least, we should}. Isn’t it comforting to know that even when we mess up {and we will}, we can always go to God for restoration and renewal.

These verses also really shows us that there is joy in salvation, and that means when we are separated from God, there is no joy. At least no true joy, spiritual joy. It is so nice to have that joy in Christ, such a comfort and a blessing to know that when we are within the flock, we can rest assured that we are protected, cleaned, and can live joyfully and contentedly.

May we always seek to be restored if the situation arises that we need to be! I hope your day is beautiful, and if you encounter storms, I hope that you are safe and protected, and your loved ones as well!

This Week’s Photo Challenges

I really enjoyed linking up to the photo challenges last week so I decided I would do the same this week! Here are my contributions!

Multicolored @ The Paper Mama

{we played with these a LOT while pottytraining this weekend}

Sweet Shot Tuesday @ My 3 Boybarians

Easter @ The Trendy Treehouse

{Benjamin’s first real Easter egg hunt. Using the basket his Great-Grandmother made. He loved it!}

Our Easter Adventures

 

Easter had me all nervous. As most everyone knows, Thursday was the first day of our hardcore potty training. By Saturday he was supposed to be fully trained, if we had stuck with the method we had initially decided to use. However, by Friday afternoon we had decided that the method wasn’t the right one for Benjamin {as we know him a lot better than someone who just wrote a general method to cover a wide range of personalities}. We decided to change a few things in the method {we added no-nos, according to her, ha!}, and as soon as we did, we started seeing a change. The last time I updated you about the process was Friday, and as it happens, until yesterday evening, Friday had been the last day that we had to mop up any accidents. Saturday Benjamin did very well and we were so proud of him!

Anyway back to Sunday. I was so nervous because all weekend we had stayed in the house and had not gone anywhere… okay maybe a brief trip to the deck but that is all. We stayed home. We got some Pull Ups for Bible Class {we called them Bible Class Undies so that he would not think it was a diaper}. We took his potty to church and stuck it in the nursery bathroom.

Sunday he stayed dry all day long except at naptime. We were able to enjoy our Easter day without mopping up any accidents or switching out wet undies for dry ones. Success!

In fact, we spent the afternoon at some friends’ house and even had an Easter egg hunt for Benjamin.

 

 

 

We had such a good time. We are so proud of Benjamin and his success with Potty Training. He isn’t totally trained, but the good news is he even kept his bed dry all night last night. Progress! We love our big boy!

Morning Glories: Outstanding and Everlasting

"...and, lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world."
Matthew 28:20

Aren’t the words of our Savior so comforting? It makes everything seem so bearable here on earth, or at least more so than if we thought we were all alone. I find so much comfort in the fact that I am never alone in my trials and problems. There is a hymn that I love to sing that really shows the feeling in our need for Christ:

Precious lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I'm tired, I'm weak, I'm lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious lord, lead me home

When my way grows drear precious lord linger near
When my light is almost gone
Hear my cry, hear my call
Hold my hand lest I fall
Take my hand precious lord, lead me home

When the darkness appears and the night draws near
And the day is past and gone
At the river I stand
Guide my feet, hold my hand
Take my hand precious lord, lead me home

Precious lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I'm tired, I'm weak, I'm lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious lord, lead me home.

And Jesus has said that He is with us always. How amazing is that?

Comforting. Amazing. Christ's words, His teachings, His love. Outstanding and Everlasting. Christ is with me, and my soul is at peace.

I hope you all have a blessed day and find your soul at peace as Christ is with you!

The Birds

I don’t understand why this happens to me. You’re going to laugh but just know that these things seem to happen to me a lot, and neither enjoy nor understand. I feel like my entire life is a slow build-up of the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds.

You might think I’m making an exaggeration there. I mean, how could someone be tormented by birds all their life? It started with peacocks at the zoo, progressed to ducks and peacocks at a petting zoo, then onto being bitten hard on the arm by a parrot in a pet shop {it drew blood}… My life is a series of bird-related, tormenting incidents.

Thus, I am absolutely terrified of birds if they get too close.

I’m blogging about this because something happened yesterday that I want to share with you, to spread awareness about those little creatures, who although they have ‘bird brains’ are a little too clever and mean for their own good, or for my comfort levels.

Yesterday we returned home from having Easter lunch with friends at their house, and we pulled into the carport. I glanced over to the door to the screened-in porch and saw a reflection of birds. I pointed it out to Carl and he said they were on the outside of the screen, and not inside the porch, and I was like, “Good, because I would not go in there if they were inside.”

I’m sure you can guess what happens next.

I’m the first to open the door and step inside to find a flock of birds {Carl said there were four but it felt like a million to me} congregating the in corner of the porch, squawking and screeching and flapping. And I, terrified to the core, began to scream my head off, letting out a series of shrill shrieks.

I only stopped when I realized that the neighbors could probably hear me.

I did my best to get inside the house as fast as possible. {I was nice enough to usher Benjamin into the house before me – who knows what he was thinking about the four birds flapping around and his mommy freaking out!} Carl proceeded to direct the birds out…

Besides being totally freaked out and Benjamin getting smacked in the head with a door {not my doing!}, there was no harm done, but the fact remains that birds are still out to get me. I can’t count how many times we had birds trapped in our old screened-in porch in Georgia, not to mention that one time a bird was actually in our house waiting for us when we got home from Church one day {still unsure as to how that one got inside}. And it seems wherever we live, we find dead birds all over the yard. Even here! Soon after we moved in, I found a dead bird in the front yard! Bad omen, or what?!

Whatever they are planning, I wish they would get it over with because all this build-up is freaking me out. And don’t get me wrong – I have tried to bridge our relationship. I used to throw old bread out on the deck for them.

Anyway, now you know a little bit more about me and one of my biggest phobias.

Project 365: Week Nine

Day 57. 4/17/2011 – A self portrait.

Day 58. 4/18/2011 – Benjamin watching his daddy go off to work after lunch.

Day 59. 4/19/2011 – Cupcakes + Sprinkles = Perfection

Day 60. 4/20/2011 – Growing up.

Day 61. 4/21/2011 – First day of potty training. Ter-ri-ble. But We got through it!

Day 62. 4/22/2011 – Clover.

Day 63. 4/23/2011 – I Spy…