Countdown to 30: Day 10

(Hurricane Katrina cont.) God put me in the right place at the right time with the right possession during the aftermath of the hurricane. Today I will share two stories that show that and tomorrow at least one more.

After the hurricane hit, people were scattered all over the place and it was difficult to locate them. One of the families that we knew lived in an area that flooded was not showing up on any of the registries, and we just thought we might not hear from them ever again. There was no way of knowing if they were rescued. The mother has mental issues, and me and one of the other missionaries were very attached to the children. We did know that they had not evacuated prior to the storm. They were just an unknown. On the Wednesday a week and a half after Katrina hit, I was getting ready for work as usual and decided to open up the newspaper to read while blowdrying my hair. Soon I was screaming in excitement with Ms. Brenda running down the hall to see what was going on. I was so excited I could not put sentences together. Right there on the front of the Texarkana Gazette was a picture of this family that we were particularly concerned about - they were in a shelter in Texarkana. The story was there for everyone to read - the family was rescued by boat, split into three groups for buses after being told that the buses were all headed to the same place, mom and one son went to Shreveport, a son and a daughter ended up in Tyler, and a third son ended up in Houston (he was 13 I believe at the time). Mom was transported to Texarkana because of health concerns, the two in Tyler were transported to Texarkana to be reunited with her, and the third son, after an almost week long search, was flown to Texarkana to be reunited with the family. The family had no idea I was in Texarkana since I had just moved there, so it was a complete shock to them when I walked into the shelter that night after work!

A single mother and her son were staying with family in Houston. Not too long after Katrina hit, Rita threatened to hit the Gulf Coast near Houston. This mother did not want to go through another hurricane, and called to see if she and her son could live with me. I had an extra bedroom and an extra bed, so why not?!?! I really did not know her very well at the time. Her brother is my little brother, Birdie, and her son has always been my spoiled little boy. We had hung out in Houston right after the hurricane because I could not wait to get down to see Birdie. With about 30 minutes preparation, I was in my car headed down to Houston to pick up this mother and her son to live with me. At the time I did not know how long they would live with me, but for some reason that did not seem to matter. We loaded up all of her possessions (which fit in a tupperware tub) and headed back to Texarkana. She and her son lived with me for almost two weeks. It was not until after they had moved out that I began to realize how crazy it might have been to let an almost stranger move into my house with her son. However, I believe that God teaches us to house those who need it and to share our possessions with those in need. My motivation was love - love for her son, love for her brother, love for her, and love for God. I learned a little bit about biblical hospitality during that time. The aftermath of Katrina is at least one time in my life that I can point to where my actions did not make sense to the world - and hopefully portrayed the love of God.