|
Hurricane Observations
|
Hurricane Observations
What a day may bring, a day may take away. Thomas Fuller
Like everyone else, I watched the news in horror when Hurricane Katrina swept devastation across the Gulf Coast. I’ve heard the horror stories of the people who went into the areas to work. I cried when I saw the loss and devastation on television. And yet, nothing could have prepared me for what I’ve seen and heard so far traveling the Beaches of Alabama and Mississippi.
As I’ve listened to stories of the people impacted by Katrina and seen the results, I’ve come to realize how very little I understood about the many different ways people’s lives and our economy was torn apart by storms.
A woman told me that the very poor and very rich were hurt the most. Many of the poor had had no money to rebuild and still live in tents. The rich are also struggling and in battles with insurance companies. This woman shared a story of a man who had a three million dollar home completely destroyed. The insurance company has decided that the water and not the wind was cause. The impact of that decision on this poor man was that his flood insurance, which was $250,000, was the only insurance that would cover his home. This woman said, “There are fights everywhere with insurance companies. It is ridiculous because the winds caused the floods. If it had been determined that the wind caused the damage to his home, his home would have been completely covered.”
I met Dee in the mall. She told me, “I went to my son’s house. We watched as the water rushed up to his porch. I had never seen water rise that quickly. It was terrifying. We were just about to run for the attic when the water suddenly stopped. Thank you Jesus – the water came just up to his porch and no further. My friend wasn’t so fortunate. She and her friend were seventy and seventy-one years old. The water came rushing up to their home just that quickly but didn’t stop. They climbed up on their car and used the top of the car to pull themselves on the roof of her home. From there, they broke in the window and climbed in the attic. They waited in that attic for eight hours. Can you imagine people that age having to climb like that?”
I met a woman pushing a buggy displaying beautiful tiny twin girls. As we started talking, she shared that her four-week-old granddaughters were products of in vitro fertilization. She said, “They would have been here sooner but Katrina hit. My daughter and son-in-law lived in New Orleans. They lost everything, including the little harvested eggs. They moved here to live with us and had to start the entire expensive process all over again.”
I wanted to cry when I saw a sign that said IHOP – Open Twenty Four Hours. There was no building there. I passed a destroyed MacDonalds, Dillards, Outback Steak House, Chick Fillet and many other familiar food chains. I wondered where all of the people employed by those chains were now working.
I had a difficult time finding a place to camp because most of the campgrounds were still filled with Katrina victims. The campground I stayed in had to give me a key to the bathhouse. The owner explained, “We have to lock it now. There are so many people living in tents nearby. When the weather is bad, I would find them trying to sleep in my bathhouse.”
I asked him about the damage to his property. Pain crossed his face. “It was terrible. After Katrina, when I came back and saw the damage to my home and campground, I was so discouraged. I started to give up and move away but God gave me the strength to walk outside and begin to clean up.”
Howard, the man who cut my hair, said he lost everything. “I was told I didn’t need flood insurance,” he said dryly.
I tried to talk about it with one woman who said, “We’re sick of talking about it.” Even though I could see the pain in her eyes and longed to help, I knew the conversation had ended.
Many told me how wonderful the churches were. Just listen.
“Even though many people from my church had lost their homes, they were in our church feeding others just a few hours after it hit.”
“Churches came from as far away as California. We couldn’t have done without the churches.”
“The church people helped us rebuild. The senior citizens were the best. They just got out with a hammer and a nail and started rebuilding.”
“We wouldn’t have been this far along if it hadn’t been for the churches that came from all over the country.”
“The church people are still here working. Many of them have been away from home for months.”
Gulfport and Biloxi Mississippi look like a war zone. Dauphin Island in Alabama lost most of the houses on the last several miles of the island. (see pictures in the Photo Gallery) Campgrounds and state parks listed in my camp book are no longer open. People look like they are suffering from post-traumatic shock syndrome.
Yes – what a day may bring, a day make take away. When we excitedly build a house, we don’t expect it to be blown away one day. When we cry at the birth of our child, we can’t imagine the horror of one day crying over the things this child does with his or her life. When we celebrate the news of finding out we are expecting a baby, we’re usually too innocent to dread a miscarriage – and yet these things happen. There is a time to weep and a time to laugh – a time to mourn and a time to dance. (Eccl 3:4)
But there is hope. Some people I’ve met also have incredible joy on their faces. This is because they have learned the secret to a happy and contented life. They have learned that their happiness and peace does not depend on anything on earth and that everything and everyone on earth is temporal. They have developed a heavenly perspective and are happier than they could have ever imagined. A woman said through tears, “Our churches are closer now. We have learned to minister and to depend on God. It was the best thing that could have happened to us.” God does indeed cause all things to work together for good to those who love God and who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
|
|