In the aftermath of Category 4 Hurricane Harvey, that made landfall on the Texas Coast, August 25th, 2017, we have seen many things.
We have seen wind damage, floods, destruction, devastation and even death. One week after the storm hit, we still see the ripple effects of nature’s impact. People are displaced from their homes, sleeping on cots in a temporary shelter, left only with the cloths on their back. Children grasping to their only doll or teddy bear. Many have no jobs to return to. Some businesses are trying to determine if it is worth it to rebuild or simply close the doors and move on. Evacuees from hospitals, nursing homes are transported to other facilities. Despondent residents are watching their homes submerge in several feet of water. For many, a lifelong accumulation of possessions are floating away in these deadly and toxic waters.
Another effect has been gasoline shortage. Or should I say, a shortage scare? It has resulted in a run on the gas stations that has created a temporary shortage.
One week after Harvey hit, I was at a gas station waiting in line to get gasoline, the car behind me died. It simply ran out of gas. He needed help to push his car up to the gas pump. This is when I saw “My America.” You see the car owner was Hispanic, the two men that ran to his aid were myself, (Caucasian) and an African American. Neither of us could care less what one’s color of skin was, or what one’s political affiliation was, or what one’s economic status was. We simply saw another person in need and we stepped up.
That’s what American’s do. That’s what Christians do.
What I have seen that will have a greater eternal impact, than the havoc of Hurricane Harvey, are people helping people, regardless of the color of their skin. That’s “My America.”
John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”