God, Galveston and the Hurricanes of Life

Hurricane IKE was a huge storm. At one time it stretched in an arch from the tip of Louisiana to the south west tip of Texas, an expanse that covered nearly 1,000 miles. Its impact was felt in Mississippi, Alabama and the panhandle 0f Florida.
It came ashore near Galveston covering the entire island in water, smashed downtown Houston and flooded East Texas and Southwest Louisiana in a gully of furious rainwater. It knocked out power in Hot Springs, Arkansas and then re-formed as a mini-hurricane in the Ohio River Valley and knocked trees down and power out in large parts of Louisville and Cincinatti before finally calming down and exiting back out into the north Atlantic Ocean.
IKE left behind devastation and destruction in the billions of dollars as well as some loss of life. Its effects will be felt for quite a long time in the sea coast villages that were turned into splinters and for Galveston Island in particular that sits with no basic infrastructure up in running that will greet 50,000 people returning on Wednesday.
Almost all of them will find homes and apartments that were flooded and rotting with the seawater that is now turning into mold, or the smell of spoiled meat in unopened refrigerators, furniture that is now useless, computers unworkable and family photos that are curled up or with images washed away.
As I served with the VRM command post at 47th and Broadway I watched the faces of those on-island survivors that looked tired and haggard, their bodies dehydrating and searching for food and water and for answers.
Why they stayed behind or the circumstances of life that left them where they are is unimportant at those moments. Times of tragedy are sometimes the only time that people are reminded of the "Whys of God". Why Me? Why Now? Why my spouse, child or neighbor? and of course the big one- "Why did God allow this to happen?"
I've learned to not have all the answers and to speak truthfully to what answers I know. I've learned to basically keep my mouth closed and my ears open and more importantly my heart open to them and to what God is saying to me.
I've learned not to be judgemental or stick that finger of righteouness at any one. I've learned to just come in the spirit of loving my neighbor, to hand out a bottle of cold water, to be able to let them know that someone cares about them and is there for them.
Prayer can be something asked for over someone and you can be a answered prayer in action just by your very presence- the ministry of presence as we call it.
I've just left the island of Galveston and I am taking "off" my VRM cap and putting on my RTCA cap to resume my focus of Evangelism and Missions at the RTCA. It is harder to that than most people will ever realize. But I take comfort in the Lord that I know we as Christians made an impact and a difference in those people's lives, one by one, sent into our path by God.
I will close with this example. I pulled into a gas station north of Houston to make sure I had enough gas to get into Galveston to begin serving with VRM.
I had on my VRM bright yellow Chaplains shirt with all my credentials hanging down around my neck and began to pump gas. I woman approached me. She was very stressed out and her eyes revealed she was hurting. She touched my arm where I have my RTCA White Horse patch and she said- "Are you a real chaplain, because I need one."
She said her name was Mary and that she had left Galveston to live at her sister's house and she was tired and broke and she just wanted to go home and was glad to know I would be serving on Galveston. She wanted me to pray for her and for the hurricane victims and for those wanting to go home to begin to rebuild their lives and homes.
I prayed for her right there at the pump and she shook as I prayed deeply for her and for the God of peace to comfort her life and those affected by IKE. When I finished she hugged me with tears running down her face and I looked up and people were all over the pump listening with their heads bowed as I prayed. Many people talked to me afterwards and thanked me for helping in the disaster response.
We do not know the impact we make on people in a crisis, we don't know all the why's and how's of things good or bad. God does! We just need to answer His call when He tells us to love our neighbors and be there to offer hope when the hurricanes of life are storming into their lives!
Blessings to all-
Edward