Hurricane Laura!

Well in the midst of all the hassle of dealing with Covid-19 now we had to deal with a Hurricane! Hurricane Laura moved into out area on the morning of August 27,2020. We lost electrical power due to trees falling on power lines all over our area. We were without electrical power at our home and office for 8 days. On the afternoon of September 3, 2020, out of town construction crews who had been called in to assist the already overloaded local crews, came in and restored all the broken lines, damaged transformers, etc., and got our power back on.

As we were witnessing the 120+ mph winds rip through our area we had a large tree fall within 5 feet of our home. Another large limb broke off our pecan tree and flew over the house and landed on one of our cars. Another miracle was that when the winds had ceased and I went to assess the damage on the car, it did not have a scratch, as the limb had settled beside the car and was just leaning on it!

My daughter’s house was destroyed when a large tree basically cut it in half falling on the kitchen. Three other trees fell on her car totaling it. Damage was widespread all over our properties. My son lost some shingles off his house as well. For days, we and all our family and our neighbors survived the 95 degree heat and horrible humidity, with the aid of generators and small window air conditioners.

We personally did not have a generator. We had always wanted one but could not afford it. My wife was concerned because she had spent the better part of the summer canning vegetables and had filled the freezer to the top with food. For a day or so my son would transport his generator to our house periodically and run it for a couple of hours to keep the food from spoiling.

Miraculously, about two days into the ordeal, we received a call from a family member about a gentleman in a town about 40 miles from us who had gone out and purchased 4 totally new generators to loan out to people who had none. He loaned us a brand new generator still in the box, and we finally had electricity enough to keep the food safe and run some AC! Whew! Praise the Lord! Thank God for people with caring hearts.

I spent the next few days trying to keep in touch with all our church family and feeding fuel to the generator! I conducted church services on Sunday and Wednesday by way of a phone conference call, to keep our church going! We had great attendance in the phone services. We had started doing church by phone back in March, 2020, when the Coronavirus Pandemic hit and we could not meet in the church building. As a result, everyone was already familiar with the process.

Well, power finally came back after 8 days and life is starting to settle down a little already. In the midst of it all, God sustained us and all our friends, and though we all had to endure unusual hardships we learned to adapt. The blessing was that though there was property damage, no one was hurt or injured in any way. I am constantly reminded that “Property can be replaced but people can’t”. Thank God for that. I thank Him every day for what I call the 4 “P’s”.

Thank God for His:

Protection, Provision, Peace, and Presence.

Thank you Lord for everything!! Amen!