it seems like just yesterday we were heading down to south padre to help some people who were caught by the wrath of hurricane dolly. now ike rolls into town and it’s the same thing all over again…with damages that may exceed the $25 billion mark!
after watching news reports most of yesterday, i became kind of numb. it’s even hard to pray. we better be doing it anyway.
Categories: church life · my personal life · values and ethics
Tagged: hurricane dolly, serve
ok. i’m back. back from one of the craziest weeks i’ve had in a long time. made the trip to south padre to do some clean up and ended up being stretched more than i imagined. i’ll post some pictures and details of the trip later this week.
leaving was hard, with chris, my oldest son being in the hospital with an unknown illness. he’s out and slowly improving, but it made leaving very difficult. on top of that, wanda had emergency surgery on monday. so there i was, half a world away in south texas, and my family in chaos in north texas. in spite of it all, god was not hiding, nor did he lack compassion for my situation, in the midst of a much larger tragedy due to hurricane dolly.
whether large or small, the difficulties of our life stories never pass by the watchful eye of the good shepherd. as i said a few days ago, he either leads us through the valleys, carefully watches over us as we wander through the valleys by our own choice or ignorance, or lovingly sustains us through the natural (or even unnatural) valleys that are the inevitable consequence of living in a fallen and imperfect world.
no matter which one, i rest in confidence.
it’s a good place to be.
Categories: my family · my personal life
Tagged: good shepherd, hurricane dolly, valleys
pretty excited tonight about going down to south padre island to do a little relief work for some people who were caught in the path of hurricane dolly. george and joan shelley (mom and pop to angela, our children’s pastor) have a house right on the beach in padre. it was hit pretty bad, but they have a friend whose house is in really bad shape with no one to help, no insurance to pay for damages, and getting worse each day.
it just seemed like the right thing to do, so we’re going. there’s six of us (maybe a few others will want to join in tomorrow) and it’s gonna push us all to the limit. i’d sure appreciate it if you’d stay in dialogue with the father this week on our behalf. no electricity, no water, 100 degree temps, off the chart humidity because of all the water build up, and they’re saying that there are snakes, poisonous insects, and bacteria everywhere on the island. sounds like fun!
i’ll try to give a couple of updates during the week. angela has her crackberry, so i might be able to write something. if not, have a great week and i’ll reconnect with you on friday!
if you haven’t been keeping up with the devastation of this hurricane, check out this short clip:
Categories: church life · discipleship · my personal life
Tagged: hurricane dolly, serving
I am a husband, a dad, a spankin' new grandpa (big papi), a pastor, a teacher, a fellow-wanderer, a baseball junkie, a lover of 24, waffles, the first day of fall , loud music, kids, play, the grace of God, and St. Augustine grass!
