09/28/18 FROM THE DEPTHS OF THEIR HEARTS
NOT ENOUGH WORDS TO SAY THANK YOU
I took the knowledge from previous hurricanes and waited on God to see what He would have me do. I often make decisions that include more than just me an Martha. Everyone makes his or her own decisions about life, but as a pastor I am concerned about the well being of my family and flock. I try to give wise counsel and I try to assist others in finding God's leading.
I was waiting to see what Florence would do. After all, a Cat 4 - Cat 5 is a serious threat. I watched as it diminished in strength and felt that my house would possibly be safe from water and wind, though trees crashing onto my roof were a concern. When your roof is gone in the intensity of the storm, no one can get to you and if the main transportation routes are flooded, you could be in for a bad time. I had family (including, Danielle, a niece visiting from London, UK) and a parishioner whose safety also concerned me.
One major problem with evacuation during a natural disaster (especially one of such strength and magnitude) is the COST factor. This is NOT INSIGNIFICANT and it is not always a simple choice. As I was praying for a place to go, I considered my good friends, Wade and Kim who live about 6 hours from our home. Even before I made any contact with them, he let me know that he would make sure all our folks would have a safe and comfortable place to stay. WOW.
Y'all have seen brother Wade on my FB through the years, visiting, playing Pickleball, kayaking, fishing, worshiping with us. Brother Wade is not financially rich, but he and Kim and his mom are rich in love and Christian action. They made it it possible for all of us to have a safe place during the storm. My niece could have flown back to London right away, but we encouraged her to stay and share in this "strange" part of our lives. It was a family endeavor and we hoped she would taste that part of our lives her in the States. She did travel and stay with us for part of "refugee" time. Sister Robin has family in Raleigh and she stayed time with them. Her family loves her greatly and she was more than welcomed to be with them. WE ARE ALL SO BLESSED.
After being with us for a few days, Danielle was scheduled to return to London. We hated to say good bye, but Danielle opened her heart and her resources in order to make sure that her family would be safe and cared for the difficulties we might face in the following days. We miss you and love you too Danielle.
I wanted to get back to the coast and make our return to the Crystal Coast as soon and as safely as possible. I remembered the inland flooding from Matthew last year and I wanted to avoid that, as well as cut down on the distance for the last part of our return home. After 4 days upstate, we headed to the coast, but not our coast.
Martha has some very deeply committed FRIENDS in the Myrtle Beach area, who have information concerning possible lodging. Martha contacted those friends and immediately they hooked us up with lodging, which provided for as many of us as needed a place to stay, for as long as we needed to stay. Those precious loving people made our evacuee status much more tolerable (and actually pleasant) than it would have been. Thank you to those friends from the bottom of my heart.
Part of our little travel group headed back home, to assess, repair and get back to work. Mark was the first to go, Jon headed to Pa. Hillary and children went to Tn. to visit her family. Bill and Lydia and children went to M.B. and then headed back home. Jon returned from Pa. and headed to Beaufort, in order to get a job and income.
Martha and I, along with Joanna and her children stayed in M.B. waiting for power to be restored and for roads to open up. I also was concerned about those same roads going from bad to worse, AND THEY DID. But praise the Lord, He opened the way for us and we returned to a home that was basically untouched and totally livable. Thanks to Mark, and Bills family, Jon and Robin for all that you did to prepare our house for our return.
While in M.B. we had the privilege to see Daniel, Robin, Cathryn and Nancy who had also evacuated and returned to their homes in M.B. Brother Roger, was still in Florida, so we did not get to see him. The Cushwa family have been great friends and loyal supporters of our ministry for years. I also saw my good friend and brother/pastor Gregory, along with other friends from Crabtree Gymnasium. Sadly, some of those folks suffered great damage to their homes with the flood waters that came in on the day we left M.B.
I have great friends and loved ones. God is sooo good, all the time. God saw all of us through this difficult time and He is still faithful. Thank you again, to all those who helped us do what we could not have done. I want to say, I never had to ask anyone for their love and support. It was what they did, from the love in their hearts.
