Greetings from the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy!
Thanks to Sandy we lost power on Monday evening and we’re still without power now on Thursday. (I’m writing this from a friend’s house.) While it was disappointing to see our basketball hoop blown over, the real problem has been water in the basement.
Have you seen the flood scene from the Sorcerer’s Apprentice in the Disney classic Fantasia? That’s been our life the past few days, minus the magic brooms. Although my sons are like the brooms, a bit more helpful though.
We’ve bailed out almost 1000 gallons of water from our basement. No, we don’t own a generator. No, we don’t have a battery back-up for our sump-pump. Those sorts of things are for people who are prepared. I was never a Boy Scout. I never even got my Webelos badge in Cub Scouts.
Every family member has carried hundreds of gallons of water from the basement. Yesterday morning, I bailed from 4 to 5:30. The rain was basically stopped by mid-day Tuesday, but that didn’t stop the water from continuing to pour into our basement. Because of our bailing, during the worst bits we had only about a 1/2 inch of water around the outer sections of our basement.
Whenever we weren’t bailing, we worked on getting a generator. I called 3 Home Depots, 3 Lowes, 3 other hardware stores. They were all sold out. We were put on a few waiting lists.
My amazing wife Shannon came up with the brilliant idea to go to a friend’s with internet and post on Facebook that we needed a generator. After a little pause, we began to hear of generators and rumors of generators. A friend from church who had power had a generator we could use.
Deliverance!
Henceforth, I will call the generator-owners, The Deliverers.
While Shannon was talking to the Deliverers on the phone, the sun burst through a cloud, illuminating our dark house. Finally, hope!
The Deliverers told us they had purchased the Deliverance-device (i.e., the generator) on Sunday (4 days ago) spontaneously as they were leaving the hardware store. It was the last one. They never lost power so they never needed it. They first loaned it to another family, but when that family got power, they were able to loan it to us.
They were happy that God used them to help others in need.
Besides the Deliverers, multiple Christian friends offered meals, assistance, internet access, even showers (usually right after standing next to us). When I couldn’t figure out how to get the brand new deliverance-device started, Tony, from Biblical, came over and helped me start it. Praise God for Servants.
We’re exhausted. We’ve thrown out four carpets and have more that desperately need to go. Our basement reeks. We’re still without power. I can’t access my email. But, a lot of people have it much worse than us. We’ve been trying to pray for them.
God, be with people who need power, water, food or shelter. Thank you for Servant-Deliverers.
Image from http://morganrlewis.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/favorites-films-fantasia-fantasia-2000/