Day 2 Reflection

Earlier in the year, my wife Carla and I attended an event at Severance Center in

Cleveland that featured Bryan Stevenson. Bryan has spent his career working with

individuals incarcerated on death row. He emphasized the need to be in close proximity to the people you serve.

This is my third trip to Carter County Tennessee in the last twelve months. Each day I am amazed at all the people I have met from this part of eastern Tennessee. I am also amazed by the people that travel all the way from northeast Ohio with me to lend ahelping hand to our neighbors to the south.

I am truly blessed to learn about the people we serve, our contacts on the ground with the Carter County Long Term Recovery Group, our host family and our team from Ohio. Everyone has a story. Some stories are about joy, others are about loss and sadness. My hope is that I provide a bit of comfort to people during these interactions.

In our world of technology, we all need this type of personal contact. Humans are wired to interact with humans in person. I thank God for all my experiences on these disaster relief trips. They remind me of the goodness of God’s creation.

Bob Maas