This has been a horrendous past several weeks, weather-wise. First was the surprise of a 5.5 earthquake at the front end of the last week of August–and the winds, rain, and destructiveness of Hurricane Irene at the end. And now massive flooding following several days of torrential rains. The Flood of 2011 is beginning to eclipse the attention on the ten year anniversary of September 11th, 2001. Friday morning, on my way to Roanoke VA to say the “last rites” over my 1996 Saturn which had died on the second day of my vacation, I crossed the Susquehanna on the Turnpike at Harrisburg. The day before I had needed to be near Hummelstown and had seen the now totally inundated Hoss’ Restaurant next to Route 39. The watery destruction was an awesome and saddening sight in both locations. The 15 inches of rain in three days on top of all the rain with Irene had turned our part of Pennsylvania into a disaster zone. This slide show will give you a little indication of what I saw.
Hurricane Agnes in 1972 was my first encounter with a “flood of the century.” It was the summer before my senior year in college. Dianne were going to be married at the end of August. I was working at as a Wearever salesman in Middletown when Agnes hit and wiped out a monumental first week of sales. Once the flood hit, the Red Cross opened a shelter at John Harris High School and put my dad in charge of it. I worked as a driver for the Red Cross, primarily transporting doctors who were making house calls to the elderly in the flood zone. Again, the destruction was of almost biblical proportions.
But so was the caring, the compassion, the “pulling together” for the good of the community. During Agnes there could be no “business as usual” for the flood’s destruction was too pervasive and too wide spread. So instead of simply lamenting what was lost or being consumed with tomorrow, people lived in moment and did whatever it was that God and their compassionate hearts bid them to do.
We have been fortunate that nothing terribly serious has occurred in Landisville–but not far away brothers and sisters in Christ and many of God’s other children are going to need a helping hand. This week I will be contacting some of them to see what help they may need. We will be putting together a work team and next Saturday with shovels, strong backs, and more we will head out to help. Will you join us? You can sign up Sunday and Monday.
If you cannot help next week, you can help our student ministry at the church as we set up for a showing of Soul-Surfer for the community Saturday night.
BEING THE BEST CHURCH FOR THE COMMUNITY 