Monday night 8 guys from Moberly headed for Joplin. By 9am Tuesday morning we were walking the hallways of College Heights Christian Church “blown away” by the aggressive ministry and incredible generosity of Christians from all over the nation. 
Over 90,000 square feet of the building was filled with good clothing sorted and sized, toiletries, food, bedding and medical supplies. WE WERE BLOWN AWAY!
By eleven o’clock we had gotten to “ground zero.” In our efforts to find a place to start work we met one of the two military policemen that had been hit by lightning! He was back on the job the next day! 
He recommended we go to one of the command posts and look up a certain name to get assignments. When we got there we found an empty tent and about 12 porta potties. You guessed it… WE WERE BLOWN AWAY! We went down fully stocked with water, food, and fuel in effort to be self contained and a burden on no one. Every hour or so people drove by where we were working giving away hot food and cold water. Trucks with equipment and lines of volunteers were all over town. No one was waiting on the government to bail out those in need. The American spirit and Christian benevolence was hitting Joplin like a second Tsunami!
Wednesday afternoon, when we heard tornadoes were headed toward Columbia and Moberly we packed up to head home. On our way home we stopped to eat supper and debrief. Together we discussed those things we felt God had taught us. One thing for sure, we decided that when and if a city in the Moberly area gets hit by a tornado EF 5 or less we won’t be “BLOWN AWAY!” We will be the church, beat the government to the needs, and share the gospel in one hand, and a warm bed, hot food, and a new set of clothing in the other. The church buildings can be destroyed, but THE CHURCH WILL NEVER BE BLOWN AWAY!
Check out this child educator’s perspective on the Joplin storm!
...we see through a glass, darkly. 