Lessons from a Flood

So Nashville flooded...

And I learned a few things.

Lesson 1: If you own a buffalo, and that buffalo gets loose because of, say, rain and flooding, you should definitely report this to your local news station. You should do this to warn people? Get assistance in your search for said buffalo? I'm not sure the motivation, but this actually happened. Naomi Judd (not Wynona...I was wrong) called the news station in the midst of the rain/flood crisis to let them know her buffalo was (were? I'm not sure how many) loose.

Lesson 2: People are more ready to believe the fantastic than the familiar, at least when piranhas are involved. When a news report came out saying that piranhas were loose in the Opry Mills mall (they had, apparently, escaped from the aquarium restaurant during the flood), people retweeted and updated facebook statuses, and watched youtube videos all day. We laughed about possible horror movie plots and speculated how the divers would find the piranhas or where the fish might end up. But, alas, we received news that this report was wrong. No piranhas were loose in the mall. And you know what? Immediately, conspiracy theories began. No one questioned the fact that piranhas were loose in the mall, but people questioned the fact that the report was fake. We (because, yes, I refuse to believe, too) think that, while the piranhas may be contained now, at one point, they were battling it out with the catfish in Bass Pro.

Lesson 3: Twitter is often a more efficient place to get information than the news. The people @nashvillest deserve an award for all the tweeting they have done, and continue to do, regarding this flood. They gathered and distributed information faster than any of the TV networks. The only reason I even knew about flooding in the first place is because of their tweets. Twitter has also played a huge role in uniting Nashville--passing around the article I linked in my last post ignited a WeAreNashville hashtag, t-shirts, bumper stickers, and an attitude.

Lesson 4: I live in one amazing city. I have not been in any other place where a disaster of this level has occured, so I can't say with experience that our city responded differently than others. But I do know the response is amazing. I wrote about the immediate response a little before, but this past weekend I had the opportunity to volunteer. I was in a neighborhood in Franklin where one street had been flooded. We arrived early and began tearing out dry wall in one house. By the time we had finished, the neighborhood was filled with volunteers. I'm serious. There wasn't room to park because people volunteering had the curb completely lined with cars. And those who couldn't do physical work were helping those who were able. We were fed donuts and sausage and biscuits, were offered gatorade and work gloves and pizza. One woman who was not affected personally by the flood waters had set up a supply station in her front yard and filled it with boxes, food, and cleaning supplies. Two dads pulled up as we were heading out and asked if they could set up their grill in order to cook for people. They had an entire truck-load of kids, but also packed in a grill, table, and burgers. And the great part was, I knew this was happening all over the city. Amazing. Truly. I am so proud to be Nashville.

And here's the other thing about the response of the city. Someone said that the director of FEMA said (he said, she said, I know, but, at least I'm honest about my sources) that they had never seen a local response like this. Someone else mentioned that other cities should learn from this response. Another person mentioned that it was a great witness. Nashville is the buckle of the Bible belt, but I'm sure that not all these volunteers are Christians.

But all this got me thinking...this is a microcosm of how the Church should be--everyone using their gifts, abilities, perhaps even stepping out of their comfort zone, but loving each other. Helping each other. Having a we're-all-in-this-together attitude. When I learned volunteers were coming in from other places, my first thought was, "We don't need them. Nashville's got this, y'all." What if the Church was like that? What if we just took care of things--orphans, single moms, world hunger, AIDS--and said, "We got this, y'all"?