Lessons We Have Learned and Are Learning From Hurricane Ivan
There are many lessons we have all learned recently and these are but a few:
First, we have become aware again of what is important. This has been a wake-up-call that we have loved the things of God more than God. God is to be first in our lives, others second and ourselves third. What is important is not our boats, not our cars, not our bank accounts, and, ultimately not our houses, but the people who live in the houses, the people who drive the cars and who play in the boats. It must always be people over things. Janet Greenblatt is an elderly member of our church, she and her family owned the historic Dixie Cleaners. Janet had two sons: Ben and Joe. Joe lived on the edge of the water on Bayou Grande and chose to stay in his home on the night of the hurricane. They found his body two days after the storm had washed through. Ask this mother and brother if the house was important. A home is where people are, a house is where they temporarily dwell. A home is more important than a house. The Apostle Paul once said: “When the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God eternal in the heavens. I would like to ask those of you who are here and are now sleeping in strange beds, is a house more important than a home? Or, is it the people who live in the house who make up the home?
Secondly, live one day at a time and handle the tasks of each day. We cannot look too far ahead just now. Jesus once said: “Today’s evil is sufficient for today.” As the reality of the task that is before us sets in, and the need for order and the lack thereof is in our face, there is a tendency to become frustrated and angry. We need, as best we can, to be patient with ourselves, family members, colleagues, workmen – all whom are just as stressed as you are. Check the mirror occasionally and see what you look like. If you are stressed, then start focusing on one task and not all of the tasks. Are you living one day at a time? The Psalmist encourages us to “Trust in the Lord and He will direct thy paths.”
Thirdly, it is the bare necessities, not the extras that we need. Some of the things that we have discovered, the bare necessities, do not consist of what we have grown accustomed to. It is clean water to drink, a toilet that will flush, and a little food that is not spoiled. Now, a little ice will help, a shower and air conditioning will help, but we can get by without them. But, one of the bare necessities is someone who will embrace us and hold us tight, or pray for us, and someone who will help us out is just over the top. Jesus once said, “Do not be anxious for anything.” Make your requests known to God.
You will recall the feeding of the five thousand when Jesus blessed the food. Well, each day we are receiving food and other supplies in our warehouse that we are to distribute to the poor and needy. It goes out as fast as it comes in. Bob Jackson has made many trips to the Perdido Bay United Methodist Church, which is one of our feeding/distribution centers. We have also delivered supplies to the Brownsville Assembly of God and to Gulf Breeze. There will be more on the way through United Methodist Committee on Relief. The other day a couple of us went out to a rather poor area at Davis and Fairfield. There was a family whose house had taken a direct hit of massive oak trees. As we delivered a “Flood Bucket,” there was an American Red Cross truck driving down the street handing out free food. This is a great country. Have you seen those massive military planes (C-130’s) flying in delivering gifts from the government to our people. This is a great nation. No longer am I going to joke or laugh about that oxymoron statement, “Hello, I’m from the government and am here to help you.” No other nation in the world can nor does offer this kind of help for the people. As a matter of fact, whenever a disaster hits in the world, it will be our planes that will be flying relief supplies into their country. And, those MRE’s aren’t bad.
Fourthly, it is the people who roll up their sleeves and come to work that are really helpful. The needs in our community are great. Ride out from the church north toward the interstate, south to Gulf Breeze and the Tiger Point area, east toward Milton and Avalon Beach, and west to Bayou Grande and the Perdido area and you will see places where members of our church have suffered major damage and have had to leave their homes. You will experience devastation. Don’t just clean your yard and then ride around. Let the Holy Spirit tell you where to go. Jesus once said, “Greater love hath no man than this, but that he lay down his life for his friends.” Find the needy and be helpful.
Fifthly, there is no power like God’s power. You will recall on Wednesday night watching the fireworks of transformers exploding outside of our homes and putting us in darkness, which is still true for many of our people. How many of you still do not have power? One of our church staff had power for two days before he told me that he had electricity. He was guilty that he had it and the rest of us didn’t. We knew he had power because he was cleaner than the rest of us. Many businesses and individual residences had generator power, which ran on gasoline and kept running out. In our neighborhood, the Netherlands ran a cord all the way across the street to the Borganelli’s and shared their generator power. The only problem was that generator power runs out. It is only when the big boys come and connect the lines to the bigger lines that the connection is a source of light and power that doesn’t run out. Cords don’t go far enough. Many of us have tried to live on generated power, but it keeps running out. It’s God’s power that is sustaining and is constant and eternal. You felt the power of the hurricane force winds? Have you felt God’s power the last few days since the hurricane? Today we pray once again – “Come Holy Spirit, Come Power of God!”