Finding His Way

David sat the week after the tornado holding a shotgun.  His daughter had taken her life two years earlier in this same spot, and he was contemplating ending his own life.  The tornado had taken all his material possessions.  Besides his home, he owned a rental house and 29 trailers.  He had canceled the insurance on the trailer park in January.  Unemployed renters, a mother with a disabled son, and others facing hardships paid David by the week when they could.  It was impossible to keep up with both utility payments and insurance.  He sat with is gun 20 minutes wondering if there was any hope. He felt God telling him to put the gun down and take care of his family.  David is raising his 17 year old grandson and caring for his wife with fibromyalgia.

He had survived the Alabama tornado in a small storm shelter with 30 people.  The tornado ripped at the door as those taking shelter clung to the door to keep it shut.  His arm bruised from the effort, but two people in the neighboring trailer park were less fortunate.  They lost their lives.

When Katrina and the team from Lakewood met David, he sat slumped in a salvaged recliner chair devoid of hope.  Darlena, part of the Lakewood Evangelical Free Church team, described him as “a shell of a man with no light in him”.  The team gutted his house and got rid of the barn where his daughter’s belongings were stored.  On Wednesday, when the team gathered with David in a prayer circle, David fell to his knees on the concrete sobbing and asking God to forgive him.  He had taught Sunday school and led youth group years ago, but he had fallen away from the Lord.  He told God he needed Him back in his life.

David felt a little like Job.  He had lost family, home, and possessions.  His loss brought him back to God. He kept asking God to forgive him.  The team assured him that God heard his prayer for forgiveness. David is planning to go back to church, and he said that people like those working with ReachGlobal Crisis Response had restored his faith in humanity.

Steve, another member of the Lakewood team, noted how changed David was by the end of the week.  David was springing out of his chair, smiling, and happy.  There will still be hard days ahead for David, but He knows God cares about him, and God sent people into his life who genuinely care.  Keep David and his family in your prayers.  Others need a touch of love in their lives and restored hope.  Maybe God is calling you to bring hope and love to those whose world has crumbled.