September 16 – “And then what?”

We don’t always get to hear back from the people we help.  Here is one case in which we did.  A bit of background first.  One of our Seasiders, Sharon, often takes her granddaughter Elena to the Palm Beach water play area at Moody Gardens.  As five-years-olds often do, Elena made friends with another youngster and the two became regular water park playmates.  And that meant Sharon and the youngster’s mother became water park friends, talking together as the kids splashed in the water. 

After Hurricane Harvey hit, Sharon made a call and checked on her water park friend.  She arranged to take them some supplies.  And while on that supply delivery visit she also met the mom’s sister.  Her house was also flooded, and she needed some help as well.  Sharon made a phone call to make the request. 

About that I was fielding a series of messages from Servant of Nations Church in Houston, a group that has stayed in Seaside’s retreat center.  Seems they had a group of folks from out of town who were wanting to do some work helping a family.  They were wondering if I knew of any place.  Doesn’t take long for the need to meet headlong with the provision when the Holy Spirit is involved in the process.  The group was sent out and the work was done. 

Now that’s usually as far as the story goes in cases like this.  We don’t often get - or need – feedback from the folks we are able to help.  But in this case, Sharon was involved.  In her gift of hospitality mode, she followed up on the situation and spoke with the recipient on the phone.  Here are some of Sharon’s words: “She was sobbing with gratitude towards the group that came and helped her today.  She was overwhelmed by their love, their praying for her, and generosity to her.”  Later she added, “Her sister also called me to thank us for sending help.  She said she hardly knew us but felt that we were family sent to her.  I expect to have opportunities to get to know the family better and share our faith more as I do.  Very sweet ladies.  I will be going to check on them.”  And then, “So thankful we made the connection for her help.  Thank you.” 

No, Sharon.  Thank you.  It was your heart for ministry and openness to the Holy Spirit long before the need arose that allowed this whole event to happen.  God was making connections long before we knew they would be needed.  And in Sharon’s final words to me in that text: “Yes, our God is like that!”  Yes, He is.

1 Peter 5:14 says, “Greet one another with a kiss of love.  Peace to all of you who are in Christ.”

Father, thank you for Sharon and Elena and most of all for your Holy Spirit, working to make connections with people “just because.”  Let more “just because” connections cause your work to spread in this crisis and beyond.  Amen.

September 15 – “Closer to home”

We did something rather unusual yesterday.  We decided to deal with some storm damage a little closer to home.  Well, a lot closer to home.  We finally got around to cleaning up the storm damage around our house.  Fortunately it was minor and confined to our yard.  The trees on one side of the house were stripped bare of leaves and several branches were down.  The biggest tree itself is in our neighbor’s yard.  The bulk of the branches and leaves and hackberries, however, managed to find their way into ours.  That’s what Chris attacked after she did her weekly Thursday housecleaning in preparation for Home Group Bible Study.  Meanwhile I cranked up the lawn mower.  Now we did mow one other time after the storm, but we never did edge or use the weed eater.  No time then.  It was overdue now.  Once I finished that task I trimmed off a few of the broken branches still barely attached to the sycamore trees.  And I confess that I also trimmed the oleander bush in the front yard.  We have to do that periodically when it hinders our line of vision as we back the car out of the driveway.  Mrs. Betty of the Oleander Society watches me like a hawk, so I have to a little sneaky.  I can’t keep track of the “proper time” to trim.  I was headed to the back yard to lop off a few more offending branches when Chris insisted that I was finished.  Guess I looked a bit spent. 

Now, I did field a phone call from Seaside’s windstorm insurance agent about the ceiling leaks that showed up after the storm.  Their adjuster will be contacting us in the next five or six days about coming out to assess the damage.  He apologized for his tardiness in calling.  Something about their being swamped with claims lately.  Get it?  “Swamped”?  Still too soon?  I also got a call informing me that the remaining two air conditioning units in the retreat center are just about done.  Out.  Kaput.  Fortunately, we have a fund we have been trying to build up to deal with just such eventualities.  Lynn, our resident AC guy is going to get the units ordered and installed for a pretty good price. 

Another issue of repair around the church has come up.  With all of the loaded to the hilt dolly and gruntingly laden foot traffic bringing supplies into the building, our ramp into the worship center has developed a problem.  We now have a speed dip on the way up.  A few of the boards have slipped out of place and need to be repaired or replaced.  Or the whole ramp needs to be replaced.  I don’t know which.  We’ll get a few of our carpenter-type handymen to take a look at it on Sunday. 

OK, so much for the minor stuff “at home.”  I think the plan for today is for Chris and I to head back to the church and get it set up for worship on Sunday.  There will still be supplies everywhere when you come, so find a seat next to that case of bleach.  Get to know it.  Invite it to join you on a visit you are about to make to Dickinson, or League City, or Santa Fe, or Hitchcock, or LaMarque, or Alvin, or Lake Jackson.  You’ll be surprised at the ability of a case of bleach to be a wingman.  Opens all kinds of doors among a very large segment of our county population about now. 

1 Peter 5:10-11 says, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.  To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

Father, help us stay on top of our issues “at home” so we can better spend our time matching supplies to the right homes.  Amen.

September 14 – “A Hurricane Relief Joke”

I have to start with a Hurricane Relief Joke told to us this morning by Cailyn.  You might want to sit down for this one … it’s a true classic.  Ready? 

Question: What did the insulation say to the flamingo? 

Answer: Have a very insulation day.

Why thank you.  I believe I will.

I found out last night that Seaside is kinda famous.  Well, at least we were mentioned in the media, not once, but twice.  The first was a local furniture company’s FaceBook post. Starfine Furniture provided a bunch of mattresses for the neighborhood in Alvin that a Seaside Team has been working with.  It was certainly a welcome relief for the folks to sleep on something other than their floor.  Thank you Hurricane Harvey relief partner … Starfine Furniture.

The second mention was not something you saw on FaceBook.  It wasn’t Jim Cantore on the Weather Channel (thank goodness).  No, it wasn’t even the Galveston Daily News.  Seaside received mention – a whole article, in fact – in none other than (insert drumroll here) … the Atoka County Times.  That’s right, folks.  We have been immortalized in print.  A reporter from the Times wrote up a very nice article highlighting the third grade youngsters who sent the moving encouragement cards with the trailer load of supplies.  The class even got their picture in the paper, always an exciting development when you are 8 years old.  Seaside is proud of you kids at the Atushka School (Did I get it right?).  And we love you.

I finally got to meet (over the phone) Pastor Domingo from the Alvin community a Seaside Team has been working hard with.  He and the whole community look forward to the days the Seaside Team comes to provide a hot meal.  He told me a team from Manvel (a neighboring small community) came up to Alvin the other day and helped with mucking out his church.  His concern, however, sounded a bit more significant that just restoration.  He said the building “seems to be leaning.  You can tell it when you walk inside.”  He wanted to have that issue addressed before he started using the building even for storage.  Sounds like they might need a structural engineer to take a look at it.

We received another donation that I helped the guy unload.  Around fifteen cases of bleach (Any mucking teams out there need bleach?).  Mucking masks – the good kind.  Paper towels.  Gloves.  Water.  This load was from Servant of Nations Church in Houston.  They have stayed in our retreat center several times, and they are doing a lot of relief work in Houston, so they wanted to share some of their resources with us.  The guy who made the delivery was actually from New Hampshire.  He is friends with the youth pastor at Servant of Nations, and was in the area scoping things out for an effort that will bring 800 college students from the Northeast to the area.  But not until Spring of next year.  He checked out the retreat center as a possible place to stay.

When he left I replaced the broken ceiling tile in one of the Retreat Center bathrooms.  It had some water damage on it, causing it to collapse onto one of the toilets (Glad there was no one in there at the time.  That would have been frightening).  We took pictures for the insurance guy, but I’m pretty sure it is just like the problems downstairs … wind driven rain, which is not covered.  I have no idea when an insurance guy will be able to get to us, anyway, so at least now we can use the bathroom.  Oh, and I also replaced a broom.  Yep, a broom.  The one up there was bent … in half.  Oh, I used it to sweep up the debris.  Felt like a Smurf.  Or a Hobbit. 

1 Peter 5:8-9 says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

Father, thank you for Cailyn’s joke this morning.  As goofy as it is … I needed that.  Amen.

September 13 – “A job for Dottie”

Chris and I started the day once again at the church, sorting and rearranging.  Between us we managed to wade through all of the shoes (me) and several boxes of children’s clothing (Chris).  Oh, and the bags of donations that showed up the day before.  In between shoes and clothes and fielding phone calls requesting assistance of one kind or another, we managed to clear enough space in the fellowship room to move the bulk of the cases of water in there.  It freed up space in the worship center for, well, for worship.  We do still need to whittle down all those clothes, though.  Right now they come across as overwhelming instead of inviting to the people who come in. 

And speaking of the people who come in, we stopped our work long enough to spend some time talking with a family who came for some help.  That’s one of the unheralded factors of being in a position to be the helper after a crisis like this one.  You get to listen a lot.  People’s need to tell their story is just as pressing as their need for a blanket or a gallon of bleach or a hot meal.  The husband was an ex-Mexican cartel soldier who became a Christian and just walked away.  He said they respected him for it.  He told me, “The only thing the cartels truly fear is God.  I guess they could tell God was suddenly with me.  When I told them I was leaving I told them they could kill me or do whatever they wanted to me, but I was leaving to follow God.  And they just let me go.”  Not long after, he reconnected with his high school sweetheart, they got married and have been together ever since.  He has undergone a liver transplant and they are both disabled.  Now they have lost everything is Hurricane Harvey.  But they are joyful and at peace.  That’s one tough guy who surrendered to Jesus and no other. 

As they were leaving a sweet Seasider couple arrived with an interesting donation.  A brand new microwave, crockpot, toaster, and coffeepot.  Instant kitchen anywhere you have access to electricity.  I would place that one as one of the most thought-through donations in a flood relief situation that I have ever seen.  Thanks so much, guys.

Last night we went to visit a couple who was at church on Sunday.  They have a home in Sea Isle, but their primary residence in Houston was flooded, so her Mom and Dad are living with them in the evacuation home.  They were going after church to see the flooded houses for the first time.  Chris spent some time talking with them.  Several factors kicked in beyond a flooded house and being in a different city and facing mucking out and cleaning and rebuilding a house that they had just completed renovating.  The husband has been dealing with Alzheimer’s.  Their dog is currently staying with a relative.  The elderly parents are staying with them here as well, and their home was also flooded, and they are experiencing some depression.  The parents’ dog is very old and seems to be on its last leg.  The dog isn’t handling the stress very well, either.  So they all are experiencing the frustration of having a place to stay that is more than an hour away from the place they need to be working on every day.  Whew.  Well, here’s the thing … We have two canine regulars here at Seaside.  Bella and Dottie are therapy dogs who work with one of our members who is a Christian counselor.  They come to church every Sunday as part of their training in getting used to being around people.  Well, Dottie was working Sunday morning.  Through Dottie’s calming presence I saw that husband, noticeably relax as he continued to stroke her fur throughout the service.  Nice work, Dottie.  We all do what we can do.

1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Father, thank you for Dottie and Bella and unexpected opportunities to minister.  Amen.

September 12 – “Kind of sobering”

I listened to a message on the church answering machine yesterday.  Kind of sobering.  After an unintelligible beginning that I assume might have been a name, it went like this, “we just needed some help with clothes or anything really.  We lost it all in the storm.”  <Long pause>  “But really, no, more than anything, we just need your prayers.  Will you keep us in your prayers?  Thank you, and have a blessed day.”  That was it.  No return phone number.  Just “pray for us.”  Yep.  Kind of sobering.

We headed up to the church to meet with the pastor at First Baptist Church over in Bolivar.  Bolivar has been under a boil water notice, and their school children are even being ferried over to Galveston schools until the notice is lifted.  We loaded his car up with cases of water and some food.    

While we were at the church Chris and I worked on doing some more sorting.  Amber joined us.  We finally gathered together a large batch of clothes and diapers and baby wipes and baby food.  We stuffed it into our car and headed to the Texas City Crisis Pregnancy Center.  They were quite pleased to receive the donation, so thank you to all who pitched in, whether from Atoka or Tushka or Burleson or Galveston. 

Next we made a stop at Sam’s for some supplies the church needed.  Gotta complete the Texas list while off the Island, of course.  We went straight back to the church to unload, and sitting outside the church were ten or twelve bags of donations that someone had dropped off.  We really appreciate the thought and the heart behind the donations.  However, much of it was not really appropriate for people who have been displaced from their homes.  A quick glance as we carried them inside showed that there were some Christmas decorations, kitchen things like a blender and a salad shooter, and several glass jars.  All nice thing, mind you, but just not yet appropriate, and not really what we are set up to receive right now.  We didn’t take the time to go through everything, though.  We’ll head back up later this morning.  I also want to figure out a better way to arrange things so we can move the rest of the cases of water out of the sanctuary.  The ladies Bible study begins tonight, and they need access to the area. 

I received a phone call while we were there.  A friend of Dennis, that pastor in Bolivar, had flooded out and he and his wife needed some pillows and blankets, or anything we could help with.  We’ll get with him later today and try to help them out.

As I said in earlier posts, this thing is not over yet.  I understand Florida really dodged a much worse bullet than things could have been with Hurricane Irma.  I also understand that Hurricane Jose might make a twirly-que turn-around and head back for the Atlantic coast.  It’s not over yet.  Yep, also kind of sobering.

Romans 15:13 says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Father, in the midst of all this “sobering,” could you also bring joy and peace?  Thank you.  Amen.

September 11 - “No strings attached”

My Sunday started out very exciting.  Before our worship service even began, a man approached me wanting to share about an encounter he had had with Jesus.  It was having a profound effect on his life, and he wanted to solidify it by sharing it.  We talked about his salvation biblically, and then about baptism.  He understood right away the difference in meaning between the christening he had as a baby in the Catholic church and this baptism as an adult to confirm his personal decision to follow Jesus.  We have a baptism at the beach scheduled now for the first Sunday in October.  Good stuff. 

Oh an on another positive note … We found a home for our old stackable pews.  The Island Alcoholics Anonymous groups knew of several places where they needed the seating.  Steve came over with a trailer and we loaded it up and strapped them in.  Very excited that they will continue to have purpose.

We received another trailer load of supplies.  And a truckload as well.  Many of the donations were used clothes, however, and we simply don’t have any place to put them.  As a result many will be taken right to Salvation Army, where they will still be available to those in need at a location that has plenty of room.  What room we do have we are trying to hold for the new clothing items that come in, particularly things like underwear and socks and t-shirts.  And we are still gathering other types of supplies.  Right now we are good on bottled water, but cleaning and mucking out supplies are still at a premium.  The product Shockwave seems to be getting good reviews for mold removal.  Baby products of all kinds, and even baby clothes are still needed by the crisis pregnancy center.  We are preparing to take a load to them perhaps today if we can make connection with the director to find out at which site she wants the supplies. Some folks are getting very close to the rebuilding phase, so we will be investigating resources for things like sheetrock and taping and bedding.  On the other hand, some folks in nearby Lake Jackson are just now able to reach their flooded homes, so the process is just about to begin for them. 

The donations of money that we have received have been a big blessing to people.  Some things you just can’t get at a resource center.  And I remember well after Hurricane Ike, that being able to occasionally stop at McAlister’s Deli for a sandwich instead of stand in a food line was an unimaginable respite.  Some of the money being donated to Seaside we have set aside to be used for no-strings-attached gifts.  Some of it is going toward purchase of specific supplies needs that have arisen that we are in a position to purchase while homeowners are working on houses.  Some has gone towards purchase of food for the community group in Alvin that our folks have fed for the last few weeks.  Here are a few other specific stories …

After church I talked for a long time with a single Dad of three teenage daughters.  Their ground floor apartment was among the few places here on the Island that flooded.  They have been staying in a hotel since the storm while he tried to locate another place to live.  His job had just started back, so he was working.  This family’s need was basically threefold: Simple foods they could prepare in a hotel room, like peanut butter and jelly or things that could warm up in a microwave.  Basic personal toiletries like shampoo and deodorant.  And finally, just enough money to complete the required deposit so they could get into the rent house he had finally located.  You know, one key thing I have learned about trying to discern real needs is how ready the person is to receive.  In this case the gentleman seemed reluctant and humbled by the experience.  He even offered to do some work for the church.  And as it turns out he may just get his wish.  He is a welder and we happen to have some welding work that we haven’t done because we were waiting for … a welder. 

Yet another family arrived after services.  They live in Dickinson and were among those rescued by boat.  Their story was a fascinating one, of what each of them saved as the waters rose.  The teenage daughter made sure she had clothes.  The teenage son got what electronics he could up into the attic, and put the rest onto his air mattress bed.  And it did float, by the way.  He didn’t have any clothes, but his electronics survived.  They were able to garner some cleaning supplies and clothes and toiletries and even some food.  I really enjoyed getting to know them.

The volunteers from afar are supposed to be boots on the ground today, so maybe the mucking out process will speed up for the folks who really need it.  We did a lot of praying for Florida as it faces the wrath of Hurricane Irma and the aftermath that could be just as devastating there as Harvey was here.  Chris just read an exerpt from a FaceBook post that listed all the disasters going on right now – fires and flooding and hurricanes and earthquakes.  And the last comment was, “If you don’t know Jesus, now might be a good time to consider it.”  Yep …

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Father, would you use this disaster to draw people to yourself?  It might be what it takes to get someone’s attention.  Amen.

September 10 – “Helping … one family at a time”

Yesterday morning Chris and I sat in our respective chairs with our cups of coffee chatting about our day, and Chris commented, “I was hoping to take today and not do anything related to hurricane relief.  But it appears our day is already filling up rapidly.”  “With what?” you may ask …

I had to make a connection with the new representative of the North American Mission Board over at First Baptist Church.  He had called the church about using the retreat center as a backup housing facility for volunteers as they come into the area to help.  Well, it seems we are “farther away” than they at first thought from the command center at First Baptist.  But they will give us a call if they ever need us.  Well, OK.  Well, speaking of OK, I understand we have a group from Oklahoma interested in coming down here to do some work.  I think I might know of a place for you guys to stay.

Next we located a family from Hitchcock that we knew from Kel’s boys were playing baseball there.  They had been displaced from the house they had been renting by high flood waters.  Even though it was a rental, they spent hours, and Kel and Jachin even helped some, tearing out sheetrock and in general doing all they could to get the house ready for contractors.  Now they are in a holding pattern until the repairs are all made.  Their two older kids go to school in Hitchcock.  The two-year-old twins’ day care is there.  He works up on the mainland.  They found a temporary place to stay here on the island, so we got them some supplies of food and diapers from the church stash.  We also stopped by Walmart.  I wanted to get some little token for each of the kiddos.  Their oldest, a 17 year-old daughter, got one of those adult coloring books and some colored pencils.  Their junior high son received a pack of baseball and a pack of football cards.  One twin got a fire truck and the other a police cruiser.  And in each of their gift bags was a secret envelope with $20 in it.  Mom and Dad got some of the relief and recovery money from the church as well. 

Helping … one family at a time.

We received a FedEx delivery yesterday.  It was a box addressed to “Vaughan’s Hotel and Laundry.”  Perplexed and intrigued, Cailyn helped me open it up.  Inside we found assorted candies, nuts, cheese and crackers from the far off (El Paso), appreciative relative of the Boyer’s, the family we housed for a time after the storm.  Thank you so much, Mrs. Lorita for your thank you gift.  Believe me, it was a pleasure having your brood join with ours. 

Last night, on the way to a wedding, I saw the almost immediate aftermath of a wreck on the seawall.  It involved a truck and a motorcycle.  The fire department hadn’t yet arrived, but lots of Good Samaritans were blocking traffic, and administering what appeared to me to be proper care for the lady on the street.  She seemed alert and in good hands.  A police car was arriving as I passed, so I lifted a prayer and kept my vehicle well out of the way. 

Psalms 106:1 says, “Praise the Lord!  Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

Father, please bring healing to those injured in the wreck.  Thank you for the positives that the Pruden family is experiencing after the flood.  Help them to get back home.  Amen.