What a day. I guess you could call it Day One in a physical, actually-being-there, sore-and-aching-muscles kind of way. And it didn’t start in Galveston. Before going home I had to attend a meeting of Galveston County pastors in LaMarque. The place was packed with not just pastors, but also relief agency reps from all over the country and nearby churches, some who had been through what we faced and others who came simply to offer help. Two things really stuck out about that meeting. One was the scope of devastation caused by the hurricane. Sure, we had seen the photos and fly-overs on TV, but these were people I knew. These were places – churches and pastors’ homes. That I had been in: Island Community Church and Pastor Booth’s house, devastated. West End Baptist badly damaged and Pastor Vargas’ house taken out by the same barges that got the Huey’s. Almost every church there had some degree of damage (except Seaside, and our building was a source of wonder to everybody. “How could the pastor’s house, behind the seawall, get five feet of water in it, and the church building, out there in the middle of the wide open prairie, not be damaged at all?” – Grayson Glass). Every pastor’s home was damaged in some way. It just hits harder when it hits close to home.
The second thing that struck me was the information overload. That, mixed with the outpouring of offers to help put me in a state of confusion and mental shutdown. I was asked over and over what I needed. All I could think to say was, “Help the Jamaica Beach Volunteer Fire Department wash their clothes.” I honestly couldn’t say what many of you needed, because many of you weren’t back yet. The West End still has no power, water, or sewer. Several guys walked up and gave me money (which we used to buy some food – a “minor” item we hadn’t thought of). At this point I can say that a ton of help is available. Let me know by email or text or phone call what you or your house needs, and I’ll try to track down some help. And, oh, yes, it’s OK to ask for help. Check out Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”
Wow, Father. Those are some key words in our vocabulary right now. Roar. Foam. Surging. Thank you for being God over all this mess. We’re asking for help now, trusting that you are ever-present. Amen.
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