Power Or No Power!
What a difference a little time can make in someone’s life. I know that most of everyone has electric, heat, and water back by now but there are plenty of people still in dire need of help. It has been a very tiring week for Crusaders Set Free Church. With all the troubles from the ice storm, thousands of people were without all the comforts that we are accustom to. God bless T-bone and Mel for their compassion for people. Webster County was without power until Sunday night. Several families had no where to go for assistance (as many other places). I got an e-mail from T-bone Friday night telling me that they needed help in Sebree (food,diapers etc.) Saturday. By one in the afternoon, we had three truckloads of stuff to take down there to help out the community, not counting the two loads taken the two days before. We got there Saturday afternoon and began to grill hot dogs and hamburgers and sorted out food baskets to distribute throughout the community. We went door to door checking on people and making sure that they had what they needed. Several people refused, saying others were more desperate. Others accepted it graciously. It would bring you to tears seeing some of this stuff. There were some homes that had as many as 23 people in one home (although some refer to Sebree as “Little Mexico” these were Americans as well.) You could see the desperation in their eyes, you could feel that at any given time some were about to explode. When you see 6 and 7 year old kids sitting in vehicles to stay warm and get so excited that they were getting some food because they haven’t eaten for two days, or babies wrapped in towels because they had no diapers you can’t help but to feel compassion for these people. We didn’t go down to pity these people, we went down to show compassion. To show them God’s love. We didn’t go down for our glory but that the glory of God might shine through. I went by my buddy’s house on Tuesday and he, like many others, was without electricity. He proceded to tell me how humbling it was to be without utilities and how he had no distractions and was able to read his Bible and his big book. He is a devout christian and he walks in faith. The next day I checked on him and he was doing well still in high spirits, by Thursday you could start seeing a change. By Friday the change (not for the better) could be seen and heard by everyone. By the time Sunday rolled around he was fit to be tied. Monday he was furious, but then came Tuesday, a brand new day for my buddy, praise God he had electric. After all that, he looked back and said, “You know Deacon, it wasn’t all that bad.” You know, he was right. One thing we have to keep in mind is that we need to prepare for the storm before it happens. Although preparation for a tornado, ice storm, snow storm etc. is very important we also need to prepare for spiritual storms and be ready when the enemy attacks. We need to be prayed up, read up on God’s word, and be willing to fight the good fight. Although we had advance warning for the ice storm, most of the time, we have no warning for our spiritual storm. Be ready for a storm from all aspects of your life at all times! This will not be the last and certainly not the most devastating thing ou will ever encounter. Until next time, God bless, Deacon.
