Friday morning I left for Dawson Springs, KY. This little town took a direct hit from a tornado that was a mile wide and traveled 200 miles. It literally destroyed much of the town. Some 450 homes are gone. This is a typical small town where most everyone knows everyone for the most part. Most are poor, some middle-class, few else. It has a bit of a feel of the town I grew up in.

It has a small town hall, fire department and police department all housed in the same small building. The church we partner with is in an old 5 and 10 Ben Franklin store front. There’s a Methodist church around the corner and a few other small churches about the area. But Redemption City is true to its name. It is redeeming the town for God. The pastor is very hard at work with volunteers to rebuild.

I made my second trip out there this weekend to fact find so we can assess their needs. Below is my commentary on my FB page. I am the Director of Emerge Chaplains Response Team. God has comissioned me to go to these places and assess and deliver the needs back home so we can start putting together those needs and get them to the area.

I’m going to post some of the pictures we took while there on this page for you to see why we went.

I made it back home this afternoon safely. My car had a good coating of salt so I had to stop at the car wash in Beulaville for a complete washing including the undercarriage. It was 11 degrees coming through the mountain passes with slick roads from a light coating of ice. Still, I drove home from western KY to home in eleven hours. When you have a wife like Libby waiting for me back her I ain’t wastin’ any time getting home.

But the end result is this. There are still displaced people living in various camp grounds around the area and FEMA is bringing in camper trailers. The pastor we partner with there will get as much as we can to help. His request would be LOWE’S gift cards. No matter what amount he can use them to buy building supplies. We are sending him a dining trailer for his group of volunteer builders to have a place to sit down to eat.

People there are fearful that this could mean the end of their little town of 2500 people as many of them may not come back to live there because of the memories that haunt their minds of that night around 10:35 pm. I can be graphic of the things my volunteer Chaplain and myself were told by different ones we talked to. One said he could not sleep because he’s afraid another tornado will come while he’s sleeping. He calls it a monster. Another said they watched the walls of their house breath in and out from the pressure before it blew apart on them.

I’m broken hearted with stories. And you know why? Because they have no home to lay their head, but I get to come home to my wife and home still here. You see what I saw and you will know God has blessed you.