Fellowship Memphis

This spring, the Fellowship Kids 4th and 5th grade class was talking about compassion. We asked the kids, “What are some things you have compassion for?” Almost immediately they brought up the victims of the tornadoes that had just hit Tuscaloosa and other areas of the South. They honestly knew more about it than I did. From Bryan’s sermons, we know that biblical compassion is not just seeing a situation and feeling emotion, but doing something about it. So the class wrote some letters to tornado victims, not knowing who they were writing to or what they had lost, but offering words of encouragement and assuring them that there was a Sunday school class at Fellowship Memphis that was praying for them.

The next Tuesday my friend Gabe and I drove down to Smithville, MS to take those letters. Smithville, population 857, was almost wiped off the map. 153 homes were destroyed, nearly half of the homes in Smithville, and 14 of its 16 businesses, along with its school, police department, town hall, and all but one church. There were entire neighborhoods completely gone – not just destroyed, but wiped clean, not even debris was left. Pretty sobering stuff.

As overwhelming as the damage was, maybe even more overwhelming was the amount of help. We spent the day in a warehouse working with hundreds of volunteers, sorting out donations from all over the country. As we were leaving, we drove down Main Street and saw the picture you see: a wrecked house with a sign out front that read, “THE LORD GIVETH, THE LORD HATH TAKEN AWAY, BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.” Next door was a parking lot where a church used to be with a spray painted piece of plywood that read “Worship – 11:00am”.

Not too long ago on CNN, they asked several religious leaders the question, “Where is God when disaster strikes?” I don’t presume to know the full answer, but I do see this: God puts us through times of trial, so that he may be shown faithful. I praise God for the hands of those who show the compassion of God, and for the faith of those who having lost all, continue to bless the name of the Lord.

Though he cause grief, he will have compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

Lamentations 3:32