Today, for the first time, I went through Mapleton, where the tornado struck nearly two months ago.
This is what I saw, just a few scenes captured from my cell phone camera:
A home across the street from the church.
St. Matthew Lutheran Church, where I have played organ. The roof was damaged (as you can kind of see in the picture), but unlike the other structures nearby, it is still standing, THANKS BE TO GOD!
I imagined this was once a child's backyard to play in and it made me sad.
I was in disbelief, and I was so upset and sickened by the tragedy I saw, especially those still gathering in the rain to work, that I almost became sick to my stomach.
And then I thought a while about the situation. I bet that the community has gone beyond the question of "Why?" and moved on to "What now?"
What now? A natural disaster out of their control struck. What now? They rebuild. We see so many examples of ministry and demonstration of Christian love repairing and giving back what the wind took away that horrible April night.
What now? What if every time we had a difficult time in our life, we asked, "What now?" instead of "Why?"
What now? Severe illness struck me. What now? I rebuild. I move on. I display the Christian love that was displayed to me when I was ill. I give back to what others gave me.
What if instead of asking other people, "How are you?" , we asked, "How can I help you?"
What if those who are cruel to us and try so hard to avoid us, ignore us, and persecute us used that energy to help others?
What now? I'm going to live and demonstrate the love Christ first showed me. I hope to go over sometime to help, not just a nosey passerby simply shooting photos (which, I felt guilty taking all of these pictures when I wasn't helping out!)
Blessings are abounding. I will list them tomorrow. I have a lot to do in the meantime.
I agree, although I think "How are you?" is completely acceptable as a precursor to "How can I help you?" !
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