A call to action.

Sunday, a tornado touched down 40 minutes from where we live. The 300 yard wide storm travelled 33 miles, leaving thousands displaced and millions of dollars of destruction in it's wake. Today, my family and I went down there to help out. It was weird. I'd seen footage of hurricane Harvey and Maria on the news just a couple months ago but this was pretty much in my backyard. This was my city.

Today, my brother went with a group to help clear yards. My mom and my sister went door to door, checking on people and delivering food. I stayed in the parking lot where we started, packing hotdogs that we were giving away. We were in the midst of all of this and it was honestly a little scary. Needless to say, my sister is pretty shaken up, more than the rest of us. She said she wanted to do more. It was hard but it was also pretty amazing.

There is so much to be done still but we did what we could. It wasn't enough, this is going to take a long time but our part, no matter how little, was important. It was amazing to see the community coming together, people were driving up to drop off food, clothes, and toiletries, people came to volunteer.

Another part that made today weird was that in history this morning, the chapter I did was about 9/11. And I know, a natural disaster is completely different to an act of terrorism but I couldn't help but start comparing both situations. We were lucky. Only one death has occurred. There were thousands dead on 9/11 and the damage was significantly worse. Other difference is, I wasn't able to help those victims, that city. But I have helped here. Tomorrow we're going to volunteer again, this time at the warehouse, packing food for the community. No matter how small the act of just packing bags is, the people were so grateful just to have the material things.

The response to the terrorism was war. Disaster is a call to action. This was a natural disaster but there is still so much potential for war. In disaster, there are too options. Be optimistic, hopeful, or give up. There are two sides spiritually that have already started fighting for this region. Tonight at church, we were declaring it, speaking it. God is ready to fight but we have to be ready too. We were able to go down there and help out because of the foundation that had been set. War comes when we least expect it.

It's kind of hard to know what to say. How do you respond to such desolation? All I can do is urge you to be ready. My pastor talks about it often, we don't go to the gym or self defense classes when a burglar breaks into our house. We have to be ready before the time comes. So, start praying, start worshipping, start interceding. Get the practice in because the time will come when it is needed. It can seem so mundane, I know, but the small things are no less important.

Please pray for all the people affected. We need your help in this fight, both physically and spiritually.

Thanks.