Railroad House Update

While there is still a lot to be done on the Railroad House, the demolition and re-framing are done and new things are being installed! There are several pieces of furniture that were scrambled in the house during the tornado and are going to need some TLC before they can be put in the newly restored house. If anyone is interested in polishing/refinishing any of them it would be greatly appreciated! Contact scvconstruction@gmail.com if you would like to help. Thank you!

Happy Father's Day to Our Dear Friend, Tom Lee

This will be the first of many Father's Days for the Lee family without their beloved father, Tom.  For them, Father's Day will forever be a day of remembrance and an opportunity to honor their father's memory.

The Lee children's lives and their love for the Lord is a lasting testament to their father. We can testify that their hearts are grateful to the Lord as they trust fully in Him, their faces are radiant as they look to Him, and their steps are confident as they walk in obedience to Him.  These are lessons they learned from their father and daily observed in his life. He set before them a godly example of a life lived in absolute devotion to the Lord.  It has been said that if you know the Lee children and observe their character, you will have seen and known Tom Lee.  His legacy of Christ-likeness is lived out in the lives of his thirteen precious children.

Tom Lee was not only a self-sacrificing husband to his wife, Sherry, and an exemplary father to his children, but his life was a demonstration of the Gospel of Christ to many of us who had the privilege of calling him friend.  Happy Father's Day, Tom.  We miss you but we are grateful to the Lord for your life and for the privilege we had of knowing you and learning from your quiet, humble example.  We are blessed and our lives are richer because of time spent with you and your family.

Aerial View of Shoal Creek Valley

Crawford/Liverett Property

The above picture was posted on Kelly Crawford's blog and is an aerial photo of their home and property after the April 27th tornado.  You can see several cement slabs - all that was left - of their family's home, a rental home, her parent's barn, her parent's shop, and her parent's home.  You can also see the thousands of trees, mowed over, stripped of their bark, and lying horizontal.

We have heard several eye witness accounts of people who saw entire, enormous, hardwood trees, root ball and all, just sucked right up into the tornado and never seen again.  Our friends are still finding their belongings strewn about the Valley.  A family in Georgia found a page of pictures from the Lee's photo album as it rained down in their yard hundreds of miles away from where it was sucked up into the vortex.

We continue to be amazed at the power of the tornado and the destruction left in its path.  Please continue to pray for these families, our friends, as they adjust to so many changes and losses.  Its been two months since the tornado - and there is still so much more to be done.  Volunteers are needed as these families prepare to rebuild and start over.

Update on Tiffiny, Emily, and Jacob

Praise the Lord, Tiffiny is walking! She still needs a walker, but what a joyous sight for her to walk into the Railroad House! Emily is now walking with just a cane. Jacob also continues to improve and can now close both his eyes when he is laying down. He's almost able to close them while standing. What incredible answers to prayer, Praise the Lord for His healing and for all of those who have been so faithfully praying!

An Encouraging Word

The Bubba Smith Family sent this word of encouragement to the Lees and other dear families in the Valley who are trusting the Lord during this season of difficulty.  Thank you, Smith Family, for your timely offering.

"Into every home, at some time, sorrow  comes. Then it is that the blessing of religion is specially revealed. We do not see the stars until the sun goes down. The comforts of Christian faith do not reveal themselves to us in their richest light and peace until the darkness of sorrow rests upon our home. But there is light in the darkness when Christ is the guest. Indeed, it is true that when Christ is in a home, even sorrow itself becomes one of the secrets of happiness. Our Lord’s beatitude says – “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”.

Homes that have never known grief may be very happy in love, and very bright with sweet gladness; but after sorrow has been a guest within their doors, and has left its messages and blessings, there is a depth of quiet joy never experienced before. The family fellowship is sweeter after there has been a break in the circle. The love is tenderer when tears have come into its gladness. A vacant chair is a new and sacred bond in the household life.

But it is only when Christ is in the home that sorrow sweetens the life. There can be no rainbow without cloud and rain; but neither can there be a rainbow, even with cloud and rain, unless the sun is shining through the falling drops. The rarest splendors of happiness can be known only when sorrow’s clouds have overshadowed the home and the rain of tears is falling; but unless the light of divine love is pouring through the tears there can be no splendor of peace and comfort; nothing but darkness and cloud.

Few things we can do in this world are so well worth doing as the making of a beautiful and happy home. He who does this builds a sanctuary for God and opens a fountain of blessing for men. Far more than we know, do the strength and beauty of our lives depend upon the home in which we dwell. He who goes forth in the morning from a happy, loving, prayerful home, into the world’s strife, temptation, struggle, and duty, is strong – inspired for noble and victorious living. The children who are brought up in a true home go out trained and equipped for life’s battles and tasks, carrying in their hearts a secret of strength which will make them brave and loyal to God, and will keep them pure in the world’s severest temptations.

We may all do loving service, therefore, by helping to make one of the world’s homes, – the one in which we dwell – brighter and happier. No matter how plain it may be, or how old-fashioned, if love is in it, if prayer connects it with heaven, if Christ’s blessing is upon it, it will be a transfigured spot! Poverty is no severe trial if the home is full of bright cheer. The hardest toil is light if love sings its songs amid the clatter.

-- J. R. Miller