On The Ground In Joplin

 Many times life’s greatest lessons come from life’s greatest tragedies. Many people, both victims and volunteer workers, have learned life changing lessons from the tornado that ravished the city of Joplin, Missouri. Having worked there right after the storm for over a week with three other sisters, we all came away with not only broken hearts, but also with changed hearts.

The devastation in that city is unreal. We worked in those most devastated areas helping with debris, and helping people sift through what was once their homes in an attempt to find anything they could still call theirs and that in itself was a work that will break any heart. But the spirit of the people searching through their belongings was the same and without fail we heard the words, “We still have our lives.” We found that every victim we met regardless of the amount of their personal loss was concerned with others who had also lost everything.

In a world of greed and selfishness we forget just how selfless others can be, but we did not meet one victim who had a greedy spirit. I carried with us a stack of Wal-Mart gift cards to give to those with special needs and more than once grown men would stand and cry as I gave them a card, one in particular holding the card to his chest and trying to say thank you through his tears, his job was gone, his house was almost gone, and he had no gas to drive anywhere to get a hot meal or personal items. Suddenly he handed the card back to me and said “but maybe you should give it to someone who needs it worse than me.” We just wrapped our arms around each other and cried together, a scene that was to be repeated again and again. The victims were selfless, always thinking of other first. Those who did not loose their homes, opened their homes and were busy transforming carports and back porches into living quarters for those who had no where to go.

We saw a totally selfless and caring people on common ground in Joplin teaching us many lessons especially in how we view others. That spirit taught us to do a reality check on our spiritual view of others also.

 While it is true that there is a big difference in the saved and the lost spiritually in our world I wonder if we in the Lord’s church have allowed Satan to focus our perspective toward the world around us as basically bad. Satan is crafty and full of deceit and his only prey are the people of God. Surely if he can help us look at those whom we have been given the mission to save from a perspective other than God’s perspective toward them then Satan has been successful in thwarting our mission to reach the lost. God sees and knows that there is good in the worst of human beings and I believe that when we see others through His eyes and go to those who are lost with the heart of compassion and selfless caring shown to us by our Lord, we will see what God has always seen, the potential for the good in man to become godliness in good men as their sins are washed away. I pray that God will help us to approach our task of saving the lost with the same spirit we saw in Joplin; a totally selfless spirit of good toward all others.

This article was written by my mom after helping in Joplin, MO.

Help us help Joplin,  Rusty