Lessons Learned from Harvey
A little over a year ago Houston, TX embraced what we know now to be one of the worst natural disasters in its 181 year history. Thanks to social media many of these memories of what it was like during this time have become all to new again. In many ways the healing wounds are still very fresh and thankfully the scars that remain serve as faithful signs of God’s goodness. Houston has had its fair share of storms. In some ways the city and myself felt prepared to write off a storm of this magnitude after its experience with the “Tax Day Flood” & “Memorial Day Flood” of 2016. However, Harvey would prove to be something none of us could have imagined.
The night before Hurricane Harvey hit Houston I found myself at the church where I serve on staff in the mission office. Because of the common thread of serving the need it was not much of a surprise to see church members were there concerned about the status of the building as water had already started to rise. To calm their minds, we pushed back some light furniture into another higher part of the building knowing it would be easier to convince them that the building would never flood. I have never been so wrong. In a matter of hours Houston received enough water to submerge the city by inches, if not feet of water.
Responding to the needs of the city came quickly. Within 24 hours teams were ready to start mudding out effected homes. Within that first day or 2 I saw church member who had 6 feet of water in his home on the church campus. My initial impression was he was there to receive supplies and volunteers to start the cleanup process. Much to my surprise he was there ready to serve others while waiting for the water to recede in his own home.
The Bible tells of how Jesus taught his followers what it meant to love in the same way he had loved them. He chose them, taught them and entrusted them to live a life that modeled love in such a way that requires them to lay down their life for their friends. Through this course of their relationship they had passed from servants to friends of Jesus. They recognized that Jesus embodied the nature of God among humanity and without confusion tells them he sees them as friends.
For about the first month during the recovery effort I had the opportunity to see hundreds, if not thousands of people reflect this nature. Many of those were from Houston Northwest Church. Others came from individuals who felt the need to drive across the country and found themselves at our doorstep with nothing more than the clothes on their back and a few tools ready to be used.
My situation during this time was of no comparison to what most of the city was facing. Outside of a normal wi-fi network my cell phone would not work. Also, like many other individual church leaders I found myself serving the community in ways I did not understand. Questions like, “Do we pull up tile?” or “How can we feed a couple hundred people in the next 30 mins?” came up often. Between a cell phone that was defective at best & responding to so many unknown and shifting needs that no one could be totally prepared for in an office space that relocated what seemed to be daily at times felt like an island at times.
Looking back over the last 12 months the church’s call to serve the community has modeled the example of the love of Jesus in a rich way. The readiness to love in such a way that requires you to lay down your life for another was modeled to a new height. The pursuit of embracing one another to bear fruit in the name of Jesus was and continues to be apparent. This practice of love will drive any man closer to God and see how the Lord has chosen him without expectation or compromise. Rather, God calls upon each and everyone of us to know Him.
Recovery is far from a thing of the past. Best guesses are this is a 5–10 year need. Families in the greater Houston area remain in the thousands who are seeking assistance of some sort. There is nothing quite like picking up the phone a year post-Harvey and hearing from these individuals. The common theme is “I’m just tired of crying.” They aren’t looking for your pity or handout. What they are looking for is the security that is all too often taken for granted. They are asking for a place to raise their children in a safe environment or a way to prevent foreclosure of their home. Some just needed to be reminded that Jesus makes all things new.
Harvey has been a tragedy in every stretch of the imagination. In that tragedy for so many the church has found itself ready to lay itself down. It has moved me off any island I may have put myself on and in the same way will move others closer to him. May we not lose sight of that in the coming months and years. It is on us to remind ourselves daily to remain in and practice this love.