Jesus Our Help

Gail and I have been on the road for almost six weeks now. This has included three wonderful visits with family*, three irritating little health issues**, and two moving encounters with the aftermath of storms.  These led me to think about the above question: “when is the storm really over for those who lived through it?”

Hunt:

When we left Houston our first stop was at the flooding in central Texas, where over 130 people perished. We arrived less than a week after the event, in the midst of the ongoing search-and-rescue/search-and-recover efforts. Clearly this storm was not over, though the torrential rain had stopped and the floods had receded.

We spent some time trying to help a Baptist church in Hunt meet the needs of the local community. When a church opens its doors after a disaster a second flood – of material aid – comes through those doors. The people of the church were bearing the burden of organizing and distributing the food, water and tons of clothing that had come in as soon as the roads were open. And they were meeting a real need, as people who had lost everything in the floods came in to get basic supplies to survive the next few days.

We spent time helping a few people who had returned to their homes sort out a few things that could be saved. In a small community of homes a mile or so from Hunt, 12 out of the 18 houses were completely washed away. The others were flooded and damaged. Equine search and rescue was still ongoing in the river bottom. In the house I (Bob) worked at the first floor was three feet deep in mud. The house had only remained standing because a huge piece of wall from someplace upstream had swept into two trees, so that the flood waters were partially channeled on both sides. John and Joan, the homeowners, had been away from their home during the flooding and had only returned that day. They retrieved only a few possessions out of the muck. They spent much of their time talking with the neighbors to coordinate attendance at the many funerals that were happening later in the week.

We also spent time talking to those on the front lines of the search. A whole colony of food providers had set up just down the hill from the church, and if you sat at their tables you would meet exhausted people who had been down in the river bed moving huge piles of debris, looking for survivors. But by the time we got there, they were wrestling with the heartbreaking truth that they were really looking for bodies. The day we were there they recovered two bodies just across from the town. The next day, two more.

This is what a storm looks like in the immediate aftermath of the event. It’s not over for these people. It’s just beginning.

Hendersonville

Two weeks later Gail and I arrived in Hendersonville, North Carolina to work with the Hurricane Helene (Asheville) response. My sister Judi and her husband Tim live in North Carolina, an hour and a half north of Hendersonville, and while they had no damage from Helene, they had weeks without power, cell service or even access to the outside world. Because of all the help they received they wanted to help others. They signed up to join us in Hendersonville for a week.

Was this storm over? We worked in a community which backs up to Clear Creek. This little creek sits about 25 feet below the first floor of the houses on the creek side and about 30 feet below the houses on the other side of the street. The total rise of the creek, in just a few hours was probably about 35 feet, putting water in the houses on both sides of the street.

We worked in an “almost finished” house on the creek side of the street. We were putting up the last of the primer, spackling any dings or divots, and then doing the finish painting. I (Bob) really enjoyed working with Judi and Tim (and Matt, Teri and Alvin). It’s nice to be in a home where progress has been made and good work has been done. The only downside was that the homeowners of the house were not able to be there during the week, so we didn’t get to hear their story.

I wasn’t happy about this, so in the middle of the week, I ask Miss Paula, the homeowner across the street, to share her story with us. She invited us into her beautifully rebuilt home and told us how the water had come up like a spring through the floorboards of her house. The story of her escape from the house is amazing. The story of how someone found her diamond ring in the mud (it had been on an end table) is miraculous. And the story of how she connected with Crisis Response is moving. I don’t think anyone listening to the story was free of tears: tears of sympathy, but also tears of joy for how God has been at work.

Is the storm over for Miss Paula? No. She has losses that will never be recovered – including photo albums that recorded decades of her life with her husband and their ministry to others. She has new possessions that don’t carry the memories of her old ones. But she has chosen to make this ongoing storm a ministry. She has opened her home as the focal point for teams and staff continuing to work in the community. She has opened her driveway to Crisis Response community cook-outs every week for months. She has opened her heart to team members like us. She is making a life from the ruins, to the glory of God.

When does a storm really end?

Certainly not when the rains stop. Not even when the rebuilding stops. The storm includes all the work that God does to comfort, all the work that people do to show God’s love and care, and all the work that survivors do to minister in the lives of others.

Like Judi and Tim, you can get involved in the ongoing response. To see all our response sites, visit https://www.efca.org/crisis-response. Gail and I will return to the Fort Myers, Florida response in September (Hurricane’s Ian and Milton). If you would like to serve in Fort Myers, whether for a week or longer, we would be thrilled. Drop us a note or give us a call! Gail 281-797-8932; gail.degray@efca.org; Bob 281-787-7130; bob.degray@efca.org.) If you would like to support Gail and I, (always needed and appreciated – travel is expensive!), here is the link to our giving site: Bob and Gail DeGray

Footnotes:

* Family Stuff: We had a week at Rocky Mountain National Park with Abigail and her family, then a few extra days in Colorado. We then went cross-country to North Carolina for the week in Hendersonville. We had lunch with another of my sisters in Johnson City, Tennessee, then went to Ohiopyle State Park in Pennsylvania for a week of camping with Hannah and her family. Now we’re completing a week with Bethany and her family in Kingston, New York.

** Health Stuff: Gail got a nasty head cold that laid her low for a couple of days in Colorado. We both got some kind of bug bites or systemic infections that just kept raising more itchy heads and did a number on one of my ankles. Then, while we were with Hannah, I got one (or two?) of my periodic kidney stones, and this laid me low for several days. Not fun, but all done.