Joplin Day 4: Dave and Lloyd

I would like to focus on two people who our team worked with in Joplin.

The first is Dave, the Ice guy. I have talked a lot about the ministry at Joplin Family Worship Center. To me, Dave is the face of this ministry. Here he is in action. . .

Dave is the ice guy. He makes sure that the buckets of water bottles all around the facility stay cold. He and his staff are in charge of keeping all the volunteers hydrated in the 110 degree heat. As the hydration specialist, self appointed, of our team, I had a natural affinity for anyone in a similar position. And the thing is, Dave rocked at it.

Not only did he keep us refreshed with cool water, he kept us refreshed with his servant's heart and his larger than life personality. His scratchy voice always was ready with a kind word of thanks.

The second person I want to talk about is a man named Lloyd. I mentioned him back on day 3.

Lloyd was an older gentleman whose entire house was blown away. He lost a number of family members, including his wife, prior to the tornado. A family from our group had spent the past several evenings removing debris from his property. Thursday evening was an opportunity for almost our entire team to spend the last few hours of daylight on his property, raking up debris and rocks, and hauling wheelbarrows of it to the road where it would be hauled away.

This was the closest we came to working as an entire team on a project. Even the young children got involved. Here they are showing off their hats, gloves and masks that we needed on the job.

I was so busy working in the cool of the evening that I failed to get any pictures of us clearing the place. We all got a lot done in a short time. We did take short water breaks, as it was still hard hot work but we were all very focused on helping Lloyd. As it got too dark to work safely anymore, we gathered together and prayed for Lloyd. As I mentioned, one of the boys wanted to give Lloyd a bible and was able to do that. Lloyd seemed really encouraged and touched that people were willing to work beside him amidst the rubble (probably literally and figuratively) all around him. Even though I did not get to say any more to him than my name, I was so glad to be part of a group effort to tangibly present the love God has for him.

Next Time: Rooftops and Poolbottoms