“And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”  Luke 10:2

This verse stirred in me as I climbed up and down into a giant tractor-trailer on Sunday morning in search of roofing nails, sunscreen, tarps or whatever else anyone had need of.  My prayer/cry was for God to send more laborers: men with chain saws or anybody who would come to the towns along the coast to help.

What started as an email from my pastor asking for volunteers to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey turned into an adventure that has challenged my perspective about what following Jesus really looks like when I put action to belief.  My faith really is dead if it doesn’t bear any resemblance to the One I say I believe in.

As we drove into Rockport, we saw power lines bowed toward earth, service trucks lining the streets, and people in white or blue t-shirts filling the parking lot of Church Unlimited. Their own building destroyed, they were still hosting Operation Blessing, the ministry that came from Virginia to send out workers into the fields.  People came from Wisconsin, California, Kentucky, Tennessee and even Australia to serve! What love.

On Saturday morning, Francene, my ride and travel lodging provider, and I were assigned to a group of twelve with just one man, Alvin.  We got our orders and headed to our first home: an apartment that was abandoned, with a collapsed roof so there was wet, moldy insulation in the living room covering everything and in little ‘Jacob’s’ room (his name was in big letters on the wall), including all his toys.  It looked like a scene from a movie; half empty pop cans, dinner left on the stove and pictures hanging on the walls.  We were able to move their photos to the back bedroom which didn’t have any rain damage, but we had to haul all the insulation out in a wheel barrow and their furniture as well.  A teenager wasn’t really thinking and she opened the refrigerator! Oh my. It was horrid.  Thankfully, a couple of guys showed up with a dolly at just the right moment and removed it for us.  Whew!

When we pulled up to our next assignment, there was another team carrying the trash and debris to the front, in specific piles the city had required. I gasped when I saw this trailer.  It looked like the belongings were on display for the world to see; no privacy or respect for all this family had worked for.  Just missing walls and memories of a life they once lived but with everything they owned destroyed and everywhere.

Three very emaciated kittens darted under and around the trailer as we sat together in the shade and the women shared their story.  They’ve been staying with three other families in a home far from theirs. One of the ladies, Sylvia, a mother of two, had not only lost her home but the smoothie shop she worked for in town had been demolished so she had no job to go back to.  She told me of how they’d been working alone for the last four days and her nephew had come that day to help.  The other woman, Rose, had inherited the property from her parents and planned on staying but had nothing left except a small shed full of her things, most of which were OK, except where the roof had been hit by a tree and rain had come in.

Please pray for help for them in the future.  Theirs is a tough road ahead.  They were so accommodating to us, offering us water and Gatorade despite their own great needs.

We headed back to the church for lunch provided by Mercy Chefs!  In one day, this group of wonderful volunteers had served 7,000 meals to workers and residents.  It was so hot, the humidity was very high and yet these people were so energetic.  That really caught my attention because by lunch, I was honestly tired, very hungry and ready to quit.  It was a great meal, complete with a brownie for dessert.

Our last trip was out-of-town, at an RV park.  There was no denying the fury of this hurricane.  Boats that were docked next to homes were either partially or entirely sunk. My heart also sank as I witnessed the utter devastation.

The entire row of RV’s is gone.  No one has any ideas where they went!!!

On Sunday, both Francene and I hoped we could serve out of the sun because we both felt really ill on Sat. afternoon.  As we waited to get our assignment, a woman asked if she could have two people to help facilitate the volunteers and those needing help.  Though we didn’t discuss that, both our arms went flying in the air!  Thank you, Jesus!

What a responsibility we had.  We were given a billion instructions very quickly, but we figured it out.  It was wonderful to see residents that came to volunteer, English-speaking people picking up applications for their neighbors who only spoke Chinese or for those who couldn’t come and then coming back with their paperwork because they couldn’t get assistance without the homeowner’s signature.  

The elderly came, a woman with a brain tumor and cervical cancer whose mother was in San Antonio because she had just had open heart surgery came on behalf of her mom. Tearful people, desperate folks, and those who had seen ‘those people in t-shirts across the street’ and wanted to know how they could get help and how soon can they come? There was a woman who only had a house phone and, of course, since she had no service, that meant Operation Blessing couldn’t contact her to send workers out to her home (though they made it clear that help would come at some point).  It became apparent that we needed more workers and it broke my heart to tell the residents that ‘as soon as more volunteers showed up or when a team came back that they’d get the help they needed’. I even asked them to pray for more volunteers.

It was at this point that I lost it.  Two women, a business woman and a friend, in line behind the man in the photo who reminded me of my dad, saw me crying and asked me if I needed a hug!  “OH MY GOSH!  I said. No, it’s YOU that need the hugs.  May I hug you?” They smiled and I was up!  I leaned over the table, hugged them and asked if I might pray for them and they said sure.  Holding them close, I cried with them to the One who hears, the One who sees and the One who said that the winds would blow and the waves would beat upon the house but the house that was built on the Rock would stand.

As I’ve reflected on all that happened over the weekend, there are a few things I’d like to touch on.

The main reason I was so hesitant to go down to the coast was fear.  I worried there would be no bathrooms to relieve myself.  I worried about that until lunch time on Sat. when I realized that I’d sweated off everything I drank that morning and hadn’t needed to go!   I was afraid yet God, in his kindness, helped me and then gave me a different job on Sunday and I was able to use the air-conditioned Operation Blessing RV when I needed to go instead of the full, ‘really needing to be cleaned out’ Port-A-Potties!

Secondly, I was just a very small part of an entire army of individuals who were there with one purpose: to serve their fellow-man.  It was a beautiful experience to witness and be a part of.

Finally, I saw very vividly that this experience was a physical expression of a spiritual reality.  Every time I walked away to climb that truck (which was fun to climb up and terrifying to climb down), I cried out for more workers.  And every time volunteers walked up to the table, I cheered for them, knowing God was answering a prayer Jesus told us to pray.

The volunteers were the help.  They were the ones that could alleviate the suffering.  They had the tools to cut down the trees that had crushed roofs, blocked driveways and wrapped around yards, making the elderly vulnerable to looters.  Their presence was hope, help and a very tangible expression of God and his love for them.

The harvest is plentiful, the fields are ready to be picked and unless we go and serve our fellow-man, we will miss opportunities to be the hands and feet of our Savior.

May each one of us will take a look at our  life and ask some hard questions:

How healthy is my faith?

Am I running to the battle?  

Is the Good News causing me to take risks that will change this world for the better?  

Operation Blessing will be in Rockport through at least October so there is still time to take a trip down and exercise your faith.  Even spending one day serving is a tremendous help.  The needs are so great and so large that every little bit will help.  Click on this link or their name for more info.

Mercy Chefs is another ministry that needs volunteers.  Click on this link or their name for more information.  As with all the relief effort, funds are what is most needed right now.  I can testify that both ministries are worth your best gift.