Lady Lake Tornado Clean-up

Chainsaws whirring, front loaders crashing through debris, giant claws filling mammoth trucks with the broken pieces of people's lives and... teens raking leaves? We didn't have tractors and we didn't drive big trucks but we came with a heart of compassion and youthful energy. At first I wondered how much good we were going to do the people of the Lady Lake community, where a tornado had cut a slash through the landscape and their lives, by raking up sticks and leaves in their yards. But as the residents woke up and the sun warmed the chilly air, I realized how much a simple action can mean to someone who had just been through a terrible ordeal.
We were given rakes and told to start cleaning up, working our way down the street lined with mobile homes and twisted building materials that a few days ago had been keeping people dry. We filled garbage bag after garbage bag with sticks and leaves and threw away whatever metal and plastic we found. On our way back from a walk to the dumpster, Pastor Randy noticed an elderly man who had come out and begun to rake his yard. He asked me to help the man, who seemed like he could hardly walk, so I grabbed a rake and asked if he could use a hand. His trailer was still in one piece, but the roof to his screened-in porch was nowhere to be seen, the screens were destroyed, blinds splayed in crazy directions and more leaves and sticks on his porch. I raked what I could off of his porch, threw away the useless blinds, carefully set aside broken birdhouses, and continued to clear out his lawn. I didn't get the chance to find out much about him, but he told me that he had been inside when the tornado, which had killed his neighbors a few hundred feet away, struck. He was alright except that he hit his head on something. He told me many times how grateful he was for my help and what we were doing for his community. When he went inside to rest after only working a few minutes he thanked me again. As he turned and closed the door I was hit with the fulfillment that only comes from meeting the needs of others in such a real way. We didn't need to wrestle roofing out of trees or clear roads with bulldozers, but by raking up sticks and leaves and cleaning up what was left of this man's porch we met his need and left an impression of Christ's love which is more powerful than any force of nature.

These are some pictures that I took of the destruction.