Human decency. Okie Strength. The South will rise again....or at least rebuild.

It is sad but true that sometimes we need the tragedy to help us to see how human we are and how we are more alike than we are different. The unspeakable devastation in Oklahoma has brought the human goodness to fore. Men and women from Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, even from New York City have rushed to offer themselves as aid to the stricken Oklahomans. I sit watching the television and am proud of how we are able to sympathize with each other and saddened that the only way we come to that understanding is when a tragedy affects us. I have not seen one person ask if the injured were black, white, or Jewish or Muslim, or gay or straight. Don’t you wish we could think of each other in kinder ways all the time? – Maya Angelou

I've lived in tornado alley all my life. I'm not scared of those things. I can't be. I can't make them go away. I can't out run them. I can't outsmart them. However, I can be prepared. I can be ready. I can trust God and His plan. My God is bigger than they are. His plan is better than mine. If I am taken away, then it was my time to go home. If my things are stripped away, that's fine, they were just things anyway.

Every year we prepare for this. Every year we stay up late watching the radar. Every year some town is hit. Every year we are there for each other to dig, haul, clean, replace, hug, reassure, empower, and build! Okie pride. Okie strength. Okie love. Okie faith.