One Year

A lot can happen a year.

A year ago, I was only 25.

A year ago, I was trying to decide if I was totally crazy to quit my jobs and move to Italy.

A year ago, I was hanging out with these fun people.

Miss you guys!

I remember exactly where I was on this day last year. My roommates and I huddled into my bathroom/closet with the dog and watched James Spann as we waited for the tornado that had devastated Tuscaloosa to come our way. We watched the debris fall from the sky, as the tornado skipped us and instead hit other parts of Birmingham. Those small towns and neighborhoods lumped into the area "North or West Birmingham" were more than just that to the three of us. One of my old roommates is a nurse at a hospital near there, the other is a teacher at a school right near the Pratt City and Forestdale areas, and I led worship at a small church near McDonald Chapel, Pleasant Grove, and Concord.

I will never forget going into Concord only two days after the tornadoes hit. The pastor of the church where I attended and his wife lived on the main street of Concord that was literally leveled by the tornadoes. The images I saw there, and then a week later in Pratt City, are forever imprinted in my mind. What used to be a quaint street with stores and homes looked a like a set from a movie meant to depict the aftermath of a nuclear war. There were army tanks and soldiers in uniforms carrying machine guns manning check points around the damaged areas. I will never forget seeing the markings on the homes that let rescuers know if bodies had been found inside or if the house was clear. I will never forget the sickening sound of dogs barking because that meant they may have found another body. I will never forget the strength and faith I saw in the eyes of people who had literally lost everything. I will never forget the sweet old lady I met near Pratt City who told us all about her house (which had been destroyed by the tornado), and how she had built it with her husband over forty years ago.

This was her house a week after the tornado hit.

I will never forget how she took our hands with tears in hers eyes and ask us if she could pray for us. It should have been the other way around. I will never forget being at church the sunday after it happened. Everyone there had been touched in some way by the tornado whether it was the death of a friend, family member, or losing a home. The church still did not have power, but I will never forget the worship that morning as people wept and worshiped the God who gives and takes away.

The day of and the days following the tornado taught me a lot about God's character, specifically his mercy, his sovereignty, and his goodness. Now, a year later, I am continuing to learn these lessons, just in different ways. If you had asked me a year ago if I honestly believed I would be in Rome the next year, I would have laughed. Yet, here I am. God has plans that I literally do not have the capacity to comprehend.

Who knows what this next year will bring, but I do know one thing for sure: God is faithful.