As we continue to look back at the tornado that ravaged campus one year ago, it's amazing to see how far we've come in just one year. As President Beehler stated at the anniversary ceremony of the storm, it's been incredible to see how fast we've rebounded from the tornado, and it's something FEMA has never seen before.

However, on that devastating March night, it looked bleak. There was so much uncertainty. There were so much devastation and rubble. No one knew where to begin the cleanup.

I remember some of the stories very well. One I recall was told by my small group leader, Austin Crim, at our Engage service the Monday students came back to class after the tornado, a service we called "Square One." He recalled being in the crawl space of the house where he stays of campus with one of his roommates at the time, as well as one of our fellow small group members, Brandon Pisacrita. "In the midst of the tornado, we stayed huddled close together and prayed," Crim said at the service.

His story again reminds me of Psalm 91, a psalm that promises protection for those who seek to dwell in Him. That protection can be spiritual and physical, as we saw that March night, not only from Crim's story but the many other stories of survival. He also said he put trust in God that He would provide in the time of need. In the moments following the tornado, he recalled going out and checking on neighbors on foot in what would become a seemingly endless night.

Many people in the Gamecock Reserve apartments, as well as Gamecock Village, lost everything. I was told by family members close to an individual I graduated high school with who came to JSU lost everything while away on a Spring Break trip to the beach. However, he remained humble and trust God.

Many of the students from the BCM were helping out in Houston, Texas on a disaster relief trip when the tornado-ravaged campus. A majority of those students said, upon returning from that trip, that they took what they learned in Houston and put it to use in Jacksonville. Many refer to this town as their home away from home and wanted to give back to the town and campus that has given them so much.

My mom and I brought a few of the youth from my home church, Pine Mountain Community Church, to help out with Samaritan's Purse during their Spring Break, which was the week following JSU's scheduled Spring Break. They had asked how they could help in the days following, and when Austin Crim and Jesse Stewart, the college pastor at First Baptist Jacksonville, informed me that FBC Jacksonville was stationing Samaritan's Purse and seeking volunteers, I told our youth that they could give back in this way. Graciously and humbly, we had four of our very dedicated youth make the trip with my mom and me to help with Samaritan's Purse.

It truly humbled me to see the youth step up in the way they did. Some operated saws to cut trees, while others gathered up leaves in bags. We also gathered up keepsakes that homeowners wanted to salvage. We gathered up parts of homes, the brick and cinder block foundations of homes, that were destroyed by the storm. The youth did lots of strenuous labor, but I saw them love on so many people, young and old, encouraging them and praying for them as they began to grasp to a new normal.

Seeing the youth, who I want to give a special shout out to the ones who came and volunteered part of their Spring Break to help with cleanup: Tyler Williams, Trista Bollen, Robert Self, and Amber Elliott, as well as my mom Patty Duke, and her job at Badcock Home Furniture and More in Center Point for allowing her to take a couple of days off to volunteer her time as well, love on total strangers was a truly humbling and awe-inspiring experience for me. Our youth have always had a "help our neighbor" mindset, and seeing them serve total strangers and being the hands and feet of Jesus in a town they'd never been to before further confirmed, in my eyes, God's purpose for each of them on this Earth.

While these youth may never see the people they impacted and loved on in Jacksonville this side of Heaven, spending eternity with those they impacted will be wonderful.

One of the biggest stories of hope in the storm came in the form of baptism. A young man who had lost his home in the tornado was helped by Samaritan's Purse, and one of the leaders of the group that went to the man's home witnessed to the man, who confessed Jesus and his Lord and Savior that day. He was then baptized in his bathtub. It was truly amazing to hear stories of God working and moving in people's lives, even in the midst of devastation.

We still have some ways to go, and there are still plenty of stories of survival and hope out there to be told, but we are still JSU Strong. I want to close with a picture of a tree trunk we found while helping that had a star in it, reminding us that through all the storms we face in life, God is still the light of our lives, and shines over us in the eye of the storm.