Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire HUGE Tornado in Birmingham

Gosh! Terrible, terrible news, indeed! I really do hate to hear that. Prayers out for your secretary's daughter and her deceased friend's family.

Unfortunately I got word this morning of a death in the family and have not been able to make the contacts I wanted to. However thru the help of my church office I have been able to come up with some good options for those that wish to donate to the assistance of those in the disaster area. I will start a thread entitled Tornado Relief/Baptists on Mission with information on how to contribute. Other options welcome.

Ways to help:

http://www.joxfm.com/Article.asp?id=2173162&spid=

Damn, finally tracked down a old friend/boss of mine to find out he lost his house and cars as well. His house was in pleasant grove, one of the hardest hit areas of B'ham.

Prayers for those that lost more than that.

Hope it's not accurate but word from Tuscaloosa is that a LOT of missing were recovered today in the Alberta City area. Dense, older housing and apparently has a 300 yd swath cut thru it. Number I heard was 60 but that is unconfirmed. Was told National Guard has heavy presence there with intense searching and cadaver dogs. Something I had not heard before was that early morning storms had knocked out power to some hard hit areas limiting knowledge of the approaching super cell. Also that tornado sirens had been going off 2 or 3 times a week for the last several weeks. Began to go unnoticed. 8 PM curfew in effect.

Hey, my heart goes out to everyone harmed by nature's wrath.

But if God is in control, of the universe - isn't he the one who's directing the path of the tornado too?

Put put your faith in infrastructure, early warning systems, doppler radar, meteorologists, first-responders, education and science - because it's the ONLY thing that's ever going to help.

Helping the poor people who've lost their homes is another concrete thing people can do. Giving to charity, urging governments to assist the victims etc.

But thinking that when you pray that some heavenly power is going to twist the path of a twister - away from your own home - and therefore - into someone else's home - is sickeningly perverse. And a total waste of time.

I guess you can always pray for all the victims though - when you want to pretend you care - but really want to do nothing.

I'm so very sorry to her that. We have gone through similar here a few years ago.

Very heartbreaking.

Living so close to the Birmingham Airport, we watched the tornado literally go across the tarmac. Sara Beth is still living on campus at UAB where the storm came literally in her path. We were all horrified for her safety. She stayed in cell contact with me ducked down in her shower on the fifth floor of the Blount dorm building. That is a helpless feeling to not be able to get to your child in such a dangerous situation. My son was safe in Shelby County with his dad. My house had no damage but two doors down from us the neighbor had two huge trees through the roof. My little convertible roadster was moved about 6 feet by the wind force. The other car was unmoved, but it is a much larger car. The amazing thing was when the huge tornado came across the airport, the wind was still, the trees were still, not even a breeze was blowing in our yard. The sky was pitch black and the air was still. I've never seen anything like it. It was the scariest storm I have ever seen in this state. Friends of ours in Hackelburg, Al lost everything. Their home, church, business,,,everything. I found out yesterday that two life long friends were found in Blount Co. dead under the rubble of their home. A dream home they had built where they had planned to retire next year. We are so thankful to God to be safe and alive. Our children are safe and alive. God is indeed merciful and gracious to us, now we as Alabamians must return that same mercy and grace to our friends and neighbors.

SHUT THE [bleep] UP, SERIOUSLY!

My children could quote Psalms 91 before they could recite anything else. My daughter told me that when that tornado came across the UAB campus that was all she could remember to say. Im ok with that, really ok with that.

Psalm 91
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, �He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.�
3 Surely he will save you
from the fowler�s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you say, �The LORD is my refuge,�
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

14 �Because he loves me,� says the LORD, �I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.�

That is a very real problem.

Spent the day in Hueytown working with a local church there. About 35 men from my church headed out with chainsaws, axes, and the like. Spent all day cutting trees off of houses, cleaning up folk's yards, just doing what we could for those affected. One thing we noticed there were no gov't agencies helping out, it was all volunteer groups from different churches and other folks just trying to help out, neighbor helping neighbor. As it should be. I discretly as I could took some photos and thought I'd share them with you guys. These do not do justice in any way to the amount of total destruction. There are still hundreds missing accros the state, the death toll on this one is gonna be huge guys. They could use all the prayers you care to toss their way.




















[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/mattpair/IMAG0131.jpg[/img]


[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/mattpair/IMAG0129.jpg[/img]


[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/mattpair/IMAG0127.jpg[/img]

Brian, in all the time we have been on this forum I have listened to what you have to say and respectfully disagreed with you on the faith issues. I have NEVER attempted to push my faith on you or in any way put you down for you beliefs.

But this goes more than a little over the edge. You sarcasm sounds like down right hate.
You just became the second person in my ten and a half years to be permanently put on my ignore list.

Something I'd heard, but hadn't been in the media...

They have a warehouse in Tuscaloosa with unidentified dead stacked like like cord wood. Don't know that to be true, but...

Yesterday, the Mayor of Tuscaloosa confirmed that there are 458 confirmed missing reports. The reports have been checked for duplication, and the number is 458 confirmed. I think he was talking state wide, not just in Tuscaloosa. Confirmed dead was over 200 last I heard.

Staggering numbers.

Look at his sig line (quoted below). He's proselytizing, just like an evangelist. Except sans the "good" news of the Gospel.
He doesn't merely state his belief, he works to convert others. It's true. Think back on many of his posts.

He puts his faith in man. Athiests are picture-perfect idolaters placing self or fellow man and and his ingenuity above God. The same thing Nimrod and the people of his time did. It is written they said "we shall go forth and make a name for ourselves." Rather than trusting God they trusted and followed Nimrod and built cities and governments. What Nimrod and his followers did was the same thing Lucifer and his followers did, "raise their throne above that of the most high God."

This is where they placed their trust and devotion. They gave honor to themselves and what they had built and their reverence to the one who named himself king over them. We know how that worked out... and history has repeated itself on that score time and again.

Don't take offense. Jesus doesn't.
No need to put him on ignore, either. We know the Lord won't. Instead He'll keep knocking, to the very end.

You haven't a clue, and you haven't any compassion.

Show at least some decency, though I doubt you have much (if any), and leave this thread alone.

I saw the mayor on TV too. I took it he was talking about missing in Tuscaloosa. Had heard before from Tuscaloosa that there were around 500 missing. That doesn't make it true, but the pessimism in the mayor's face and voice when talking about the search was very telling. There are sad stories yet to come from that town. On an upnote it is the citizens themselves that are taking on the task of relief work. Asked my son what organization he worked with yesterday. His reply was there are just locals doing what needs doing. Church groups are big in providing food, water and labor. No "government agencies" other than emergency service and National Guard. People helping people. Here's an example of where help is coming from. This from the Alabama Baptist website:

May 1, 2011 :: Update
Currently, volunteer teams are dispatched across the state, with the number of volunteers growing by the hour. Please continue to pray for all affected by the storms and for volunteers as they minister in affected areas across the state. Please give to help in the relief effort. Remember that 100% of your donation will go directly to help those affected by the storm.

� Clean Up Recovery Units - 35 units from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Michigan. The teams working all over North Alabama.

� Feeding Units - 4 units from Alabama; 1 from Kentucky; 1 from Florida; 1 from Texas; 1 from South Carolina. These teams are serving in areas from: Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Rainsville, Double Springs, and Limestone and Madison counties.

� Shower Units - 13 units from Alabama. These units are set up in the following counties: Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Franklin, St. Clair, Calhoun, Dekalb, and Lawrence.

� Total number of units currently operative as of Sunday: 73

� Total number of volunteers: More than 1000 volunteers currently with boots on the ground plus many churches that are serving meals, collecting and distributing goods, and housing those displaced by the storms.

From www.al.com:

What drives BCBrian crazy is the number of non-believers who will be converted to Christians BECAUSE their house was destroyed and BECAUSE they lost loved ones. God is a jealous God. What might seem to the world like the worst day of your life is really what saved you and became the most important and best day of your life.

Proverbs 26:4-5