Is Hope Possible After Hurricane Harvey? - 1-29-18

This morning we are waiting for supplies, but in the waiting I listen. Larry McHaney, the CMA coordinator for the disaster response in the Houston area shares with several members of the team one of the greatest challenges he has encountered since Hurricane Harvey hit. He says that he hadn't realized the extent of threefold disaster recovery. It takes time and relationships to not only physically recover but emotionally and spiritually recover as well, he says. When the water rose and spread into homes, it wasn't just the drywall and wooden boards that were affected.

How do you care for souls?

How do you trust God after Hurricane Harvey topples your carefully stacked possessions on the floor, saturates them with chemically laden, putrid water for days, and then breathes mold up the walls of your home?

How do you come back from that? Is hope even possible?

Today I am going out with Larry McHaney, David Young, an Alliance Pastor in the Houston area and Sam Christopher, a videographer sent from CAMA services, the branch of the Christian and Missionary Alliance that responds to crises. Larry McHaney is our guide and will be taking Sam around to video interviews with several recipients of CMA help. I have been invited to go along. Larry says that about fifty teams have come from all over the US, with several churches sending multiple teams. 

Interview with David Young (Left to Right, David, Larry, Sam)

We visit the home of Mrs. Domingo, an elderly widow who lost her espousa (husband) two years ago and clearly feels his absence more than ever since Hurricane Harvey struck. Her home is nearly ready to move back into, but today it is empty of all but a few folding chairs and kitchen appliances. She doesn't speak English, but is eager to tell her story. Her son acts as an interpreter for the interview.

Sam sets up his camera, Mrs. Domingo clips on the mic and the interview begins.

She shares, (her approximate words) “A day or two before the flood came, I had a dream. In the dream I saw God in white clothing, his hair was glowing. It was so beautiful. I was praising God.” She continues to share how God told her that he was with her. Two days later, she remembered the dream as the two feet high water soaked in and destroyed her house. Mi Casa, Nada (my house, nothing), she says. She quotes Job 1:21, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised.”

As I sit and listen to her emotional story, told with tears and moments of looking up to heaven and speaking to Dios, I struggle to process what I am hearing. How do you come back from something like this?

“This house was a gift from God. The alliance teams are angels sent from God,” she says. Her faith, far from failing has carried her through. God has not forgotten his own.

I look around. She will be able to move in soon. There is still much healing and restoration that needs to happen in her life and the community around her, but to see her faith in God, renewed and refreshed by her brothers and sisters in Christ is incredible. I will walk away today as the one who has been blessed. 

At the end of the interview, I hug Mrs. Domingo and kiss her on the cheek as she kisses me back. Mucho Gusto, I say, A pleasure to meet you. I don't know if I have used the words in the right context, but I hope they convey some of the blessing I feel. I've seen Christ today and witnessed the hope that He brings as He restores those who love him.