I’ve watched the flooding in Houston on TV in horror. It’s been stated to be the worst flood in the United States causing more damage that Hurricanes Katrina or Sandy combined. So many lives were lost. I can’t even imagine what the people living through it must be feeling. My heart aches for those who lost loved ones. People who had a lot, lost about everything. People who had little, lost about everything. It’s horrific!
A passenger bus moves through a waterlogged road in Mumbai.
Photograph: Shailesh Andrade (2)
Did you know that at the same time, a monsoon hit Mumbai and south Asia and 1200 people died? It’s been the worst monsoon season in that region in decades. Homes collapsed and schools washed away. 17,000 children will be without schools. Floods washed away crops and farmers were left with literally nothing, not even clean drinking water (1)
As I watched the unfolding of these two simultaneous catastrophes, I couldn’t help but notice how the playing field of life was completely leveled. Porsches and BMWs washed away as easily as old beat up pick-up trucks and Rickshaws. Large mansions flooded as well as clay huts and downtown apartments. Everything that had been worked for could have been washed away. It reminded me, what are we living for? What are we working so hard to obtain?
I recently purchased a new-to-me car which is nicer than any of the vans I’ve driven for the past 20 years. To me it’s luxury. I don’t feel worthy. I’m not worthy. But, I absolutely love it. I’ve repented for loving it so much. And it could be washed away in a storm as easily as anybody else’s car and be gone just like that.
Is that what we are working for? Are we working and living to obtain beautiful homes filled with exotic furnishings, fabulous clothes, and expensive trinkets? Are we living to drive around in turbo charged luxury? Are we working to build and accumulate all the best that this world has to offer? For what reason? Is this truly what our hearts long for?
I watched the news with amazement as they showed people in their boats helping fellow citizens, rescuing people from flooded homes, rooftops, car tops and trees. People rescued animals, children, and elderly citizens. Complete strangers worked together to reach a laboring 9-month pregnant woman and lift her into a dump truck to carry her to a hospital. A furniture store opened its doors immediately allowing anybody to linger on the new sofas and sleep on the new mattresses. Some of the National Guard bunked on the best memory foam mattresses there.
Shelters opened in churches, auditoriums, schools, convention centers. The Red Cross opened shelters. People with homes higher and dryer opened their doors to the less fortunate. Medical centers popped up within shelters offering aid in any ways needed. Volunteers manned these shelters and medical care centers. Food and water appeared from donations.
Individuals and groups around the country collected and are still collecting food, water, clothing and goods to ship to Houston and surrounding areas. Samaritans Feet sent 20,000 bactericidal shoes to the area to decrease feet infection from walking in flooded waters.
This my friends, is what will last. This is what will be rewarded in heaven. Helping our neighbors, helping the less fortunate, sharing what we have with total strangers, working together to save lives, giving what we can, loving, praying, reaching out, giving of ourselves, looking beyond our own needs to that of others, assisting, using our gifts, our skills, our wealth.
As another hurricane, Irma, builds in the Atlantic, there may be even more ways to give in the near future.
I think our hearts yearn to create that which will last. While our cars and belongings reflect our hard-working efforts, those do not last. Loving, giving, sharing and helping others is what will last into eternity.
His work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 1 Corinthians 3:13
If you want to donate in any way, I’ve done some research and will share a few worthy ways to help the victims of hurricane Harvey. If the links don’t work here, copy and paste to your browser. There are many other ways to give. Again, here are just a few:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/25/health/iyw-harvey-how-to-help/index.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/28/546745827/looking-to-help-those-affected-by-harvey-here-s-a-list
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/relief-units-rolling-texas-hurricane-harveys-punch/
And in Charlotte, NC: http://www.mecksheriff.com/hurricanerelief.asp
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/28/546745827/looking-to-help-those-affected-by-harvey-here-s-a-list
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/30/floods-hit-mumbai-worst-monsoon-years-kills-1200-across-south/
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/30/mumbai-paralysed-by-floods-as-india-and-region-hit-by-worst-monsoon-rains-in-years
- http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/26/us/gallery/hurricane-harvey/index.html (front picture)
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/31/south-asia-floods-fears-death-toll-rise-india-pakistan-mumbai-building-collapses (front picture)
written by Jill Roman Lord
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