My eyes raced along the shoreline that had been reduced to ruble.
Enormous piles of bent metal, trash, and scraps of wood flashed by as the Jeepney took us farther.
I looked over at Madeline and saw the look I knew my own eyes reflected.
She was looking out over the devastation too, the flattened houses.
Houses that were once homes were reduced to nothingness.
My eyes focused in on a single door that stood alone amongst the ruin of crumbled walls and broken floors that once stood strong alongside the door.
As we crossed a bridge our truck halted in traffic. We continued to look out over the houses.
I observed a small group of kids playing near a river that ran thick with trash and debris.
There were clothes that once belonged to people, trinkets that once belonged in a living room, and various pieces of metal and wood that once belonged to a house.
And right in the midst of it all was a woman.
The body was face down and naked.
Her legs were bent and stiffened by months of decay.
Her body was stained grey.
And here were these kids playing right next to her.
Who was she?
What was her name?
Her story?
Why her?
I looked at Madeline again, horror on both our faces.
My heart sank, it broke.
A couple weeks ago our squad got the opportunity to visit Tacloban where typhoon Yolanda hit in November.
The devastation in Tacloban is still so real.
It may have happened months ago but to the people who live here the ruin is still fresh.
They still don't have electricity making night time extremely dangerous.
They're still finding 3-4 bodies a day.
Houses are still destroyed.
Businesses are still closed.
Life is not back to normal and probably never will be for most.
However, every person you ask takes pride in being a survivor.
They want to tell their stories.
They want to tell you how God brought them through this destruction.
It's amazing really. That in a place that is surrounded by destruction, praises are shouted to God.
In a place where the smell of death is still so fresh in the air children are free to play and enjoy the lives God has given them.
It's heart breaking, as the realities of our world usually are, but God is sovereign, He has control, and I know His plans are bigger than anything we could anticipate.
