Murfreesboro Tornado

Today we went to drop something off at a friend's house.  This is what we saw on our short trip.  The power of this storm is still so amazing and this pictures (take through the window of our moving car) will never be able to show the vastness of this storm.  A few friends asked for more pictures, so I snapped some.  The most devastated parts are only accessible by emergency workers.  I pray that God will open the doors for my family and me to help during this time. 

So far, my favorite "story" from this storm is this:

One woman was out surveying the damage and came to one house where out for the entire house, only a closet was left intact.  She didn't know all of her neighbors very well and while she was standing in front of the closet sorrow over-took her as she grieved for this family that she barely knew.  Then, a woman came up beside her just beaming with a huge radiant smile on her face.  The first lady looked at her and asked, "Can you believe it?  These poor people; the only thing left of their house is the closet!"  The smiling lady replied, "Yeah, but I was IN that closet!"  

Oh, for God's hand of provision!   Through all of this destruction there has been only 2 confirmed fatalities, quite amazing!

All over town there are trees, HUGE trees, just pulled right out of the earth, roots, dirt and 

all . . . 

. . .trees, snapped in half like little tooth picks . . . 

. . . . over 100 houses have severe damage . . .

 . . . blue tarps covering houses row . . . 

. . . after row. . .

. . . while other houses (over 50) are passed the point of repair . . . 

. . . trees older than anyone I know, wiped out in seconds . . .

. . .  rows of houses . . . gone. . . 

. . .  some houses have roofs brought to the same level of their foundations . . .

. . . . rubble tossed here. . . 

 . . . and way over there . . .

Today alone on the way to one friends house, we passed at least 15-20 trucks like this filled with branches and debris.

Jeremiah 27:5 

"With my great power and outstretched  arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give to anyone I please."

Mark 4:41

" ' Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!' "

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 

"I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.  Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun."

Proverbs 27:1

"Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth."

Psalm 84:1

"How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty!  My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of The LORD; my heart and flesh cry out for the Living God.  Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young - a place near your alter, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.  Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you."