Fences
“How long will you assault a man? Would all of you throw him down— this leaning wall, this tottering fence?” Psalm 62:3
“As we have been visiting farm families” the case worker said.” we are finding that the flood this summer destroyed a lot of fencing. There are not any resources available to assist with refencing projects.”
Through a series of events the needs of farmers are being taken up by the Fellowship of Christian Farmers. They will be bringing in teams of volunteers through the course of the year when volunteers are available to undertake this labor intense process. While there will be publicity involved which will highlight the Christian Farmers ministry, most of the local people will be unaware of this need on farms that they drive by daily.
In communities that had flooding this last year many of the local residents start to just look beyond, the emotional and physical damages that were left behind from last year. Life just moves on and we just start not seeing things anymore. The empty lots, pile of trash, or empty houses have so much become a part of the view that we take it for granted.
That attitude often prevails until you start asking someone who is in the process of recovery. Then your eyes are opened to a whole new perspective, becoming aware recovery is more than meets the eyes. From a non farm back ground, the idea of repairing fences carries me into an area where I am completely oblivious. Fences, you mean those strings of wire? I climb over them when I am hunting. I know they keep animals in our out. But beyond that I have never thought much about them. Yet dozen of farmers had fences ripped out by the flood and are now in need of repair. From the conversations around the unmet needs table it was going to take hundreds of hours worth of help to meet this need.
I pray for those who tend the land, recognizing that farming has become a highly exacting business that includes many things like fences that I have never thought about. Lord help our farmer get their fences repaired. Amen
What is Important
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” Matthew 6:24-26
In sorting through what is left of my home, I started asking myself what is important. When something is important, it is worth the investment of the time and energy it takes to clean it up. My kids came and tried to help. They focused on what was salvageable; you know the furniture, dishes in the kitchen and clothes in the closet.
They didn’t understand me sitting with a drawer of their old school papers and pictures wiping them off one at a time, and laying the papers out so they could dry. They didn’t understand until they sat with me and started to help work through their water-stained kindergarten pictures, things I had kept all of these years. They had been rather stoic up to this point, as they sought to quickly sort through the house they grew up in.
Now there was a change that took place. They suddenly started seeing the sacred memories from their past come alive. Now the old rocking chair that had been headed for the trash heap was being refinished awaiting a place of veneration in my son’s home. In our society, if we cannot put a dollar value on something it does not have a value. But what is important is the investment we have made in each other and the memories that we share.
Lord, help us to invest in what is really important, and cherish the memories that come from these investments. Amen
Dedicated
Across our nation each year tens of thousands of people, find themselves homeless due to the effects of floods, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. These experiences traumatize every aspect of their lives. Their families, churches, and communities share in these disruptions. Along with the economic and emotional lossesloses caused by a disaster, the. The impact on these lives will change their emotional and spiritual outlook andout look, haunt their memories and dreams for years to come. They can experience periods of depression and may be unable to hold a regular job for periods of time, while the world seems to pass them by.
We are thankful for the work of the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, F.E.M.A., and our denominations relief services. Lord, hear our prayer for the emergency workers who are often volunteer and respondvolunteers and responding out of a sense of duty to their community. Lord, thank you for their dedication, work, and commitment to our communities. We we ask that you might bless them.
We remember those unsung heroes that walk with these families as they seek to rebuild their lives, the pastors, social workers, government agencies, counselors and family and friends that will share their tears. We realize that the task of rebuilding a home is more than simply putting a roof over their family’s heads or putting food on a plate. Home for each of us is a sacred place, and when destroyed or damaged, we need all the emotional and spiritual support that we can get in the rebuilding process.
This devotional book is dedicated to those who have lost so much and to all those who partner up in bringing God’s love and healing to those in need.
Instructions
Actively pray engaging your mind, body and spirit. Devotional takes time and effort to inner act with the materials. The Safety Net Prayer Ministry has been developing devotional material that intentionally encourages prayers to reach out not only to God, but also to those lifted in pray. Dr. Goodfellow believes that the first measurable change that takes place transpires in the life of the prayer.
Actively pray engaging your mind, body and spirit. Devotional takes time and effort to inner act with the materials. The Safety Net Prayer Ministry has been developing devotional material that intentionally encourages prayers to reach out not only to God, but also to those lifted in pray. Dr. Goodfellow believes that the first measurable change that takes place transpires in the life of the prayer.
This devotional is a tool to assist and challenge you to make a difference in your church, community and the worlds of those who are experiencing the effect of a disaster. While the instructions are simplistic, they can have a profound impact on you and the world God calls us to serve. Our prayer is that through reading this devotional your eyes might be opened.
Set a daily time to read your devotional. If you do anything for a month you create a new habit, and spending time regularly in prayer is a holy disciple that God desires for all of humanity.
Find a friend with whom to share with your insights. Some couples read these devotionals together, or find a friend that will read the devotional along with you. Then set a time to get together at least once a week to discuss the materials. These discussions will assist in assimilating this information and create keener insights from the materials.
Keep a notebook handy so that you can jot down notes. God often tries to speak to us while we are praying. Ideas, insights, and inspirations or expressions of compassion can be the Holy Spirits way of encouraging you to action.
I believe that God wants to use you in some tangible way to assist those in your community that are dealing with a disaster. That can be as simple as taking some cookies and a six pack of pop over to people who are cleaning up, to encouraging your church to play a more active role is assisting.
Finally send your comments and ideas to us so that we can keep track of what God is doing with your, in your church or community. Send emails to snprayer@tds.net.
The Dream
‘Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.” Genesis 41:25
“I am not much of a dreamer. But the other night I had a dream. I was home and it was all different. I was in my home and yet, it wasn’t my home anymore. I’ve found myself having a lot of these kinds of dreams since the flood.”
The Lord has given us our dream states as a place where we are allowed to work out things we are grappling with emotionally. When we are traumatized by a disaster, there are lots of issues we are forced to face. Confronting losses yoked with the uncertainties of today and in the future is often overwhelming. We are being forced into places where we have never been before. These changes often scare us, and it is in our inner dream life we seek to work these fears, hurts, and emotions out. It is a part of God’s natural healing process that he has built into us.
In listening to our dreams, our inner world opens up. Sharing or writing dreams opens an inner awareness, while helping us achieve emotional balance. With a few chosen questions and allowing your mind too simply wander, eventually brings us understanding of these dreams, while helping our journey into the future.
Lord, thank you for our dreams, even if at times they are troubling, because we understand that you are seeking to help us emotionally work things out. Amen
The Winds
“Who is like the wise man? Who knows the explanation of things? Wisdom brightens a man’s face and changes its hard appearance.” Ecclesiastes 8:1
“The winds of change are blowing, and I do not know where they are blowing us to?”
Are they going to condemn our house? Is FEMA going to be doing a buy out? If they don’t condemn it, do we want to go back and rebuild knowing that tomorrow, next week or somewhere up the road we could be in the same place we are today. How long is our money going to last…not long. Insurance- we wouldn’t hold our breath. FEMA, I know they are trying. Social Services and that unmet needs committee I think they are working hard, but how much money and help will they find?
It is hard to sleep at night when your mind is being blown in every direction. The “What Ifs” are driving me crazy. We look at each other and try to talk, but either we find ourselves arguing or retreating into our own little worlds, and I am afraid those worlds are different. We settled here in order to be close to my folks, and I know my husband would like to move back to his home. Yet all our friends are here, or used to be here. Like us, they also are feeling the winds of change blowing in their lives.
It isn’t like when we were back in school and there was always a right or wrong answer. Today for us there are only winds, rumors, raw emotions and memories that could carry us anywhere.
Lord hear our cries. Amen
The Touchable
“For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully.’” Luke 4:10
They were sitting at the table with me in the church hall that had opened up to feed us, after the flood went through my home and the town. I had lost a night’s worth of sleep, and laying on one of the cots that the American Red Cross had set up looked inviting. However, there was a raging fire inside, that in spite of my physical fatigue, was being fueled by the adrenaline pumping into my system.
Then out of nowhere this angel appeared. Oh, I do believe in angels. Her warm smile and caring eyes seemed to consume the uncontrollable flames. Her voice was soft as she asked how I was doing. Before I knew it, she was sitting down and listening to my story. The same way my mother used to listen to me when I was hurt as a child. In taking my hand, I recognized that I was not alone. She shared some tears and arranged for me to call my daughter and son to tell them I was Ok.
After making the calls, she helped me over to lie down for a little while on a cot. Her hands became my mother’s hands as she tucked me in when I felt alone and afraid. When I woke up later my angel was nowhere to be seen. I guess God had carried her off to another assignment. In sitting on the edge of the cot that morning, I knew that I had been touched by an angel.
Thank you for sending the angels to assist us during our times of trouble regardless of their age, shape or size. Amen
From the Outside Watching
”Be pleased, O LORD, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me.” Psalm 40:13
“It was like watching a flood on CNN, except it was real and I was in the middle of it. My wife talks about my little world I live in. Well, it was like there was part of me during our flood that was standing off simply watching, as we got caught up in the action.”
Emotional detachment during times of crisis is a more of a normal response than we realize. This emotional detachment allows us to have the physical stamina, and mental ability to sometimes accomplish the impossible. One frail old man in his mid 80’s told me about wading out in water that had over flown the banks of the Mississippi and was chest deep. He waded to the neighbor’s cottage seeking help for him and his wife. “I really didn’t think a whole lot about it…. I just did it. I didn’t think I had any choice.” In our discussion, he started to reflect on what he had done and felt that it was a miracle that he was not washed away, and is still alive.
Emotional removal often allows us to tap into inner resources that we are not normally aware of. Some call it the survival instinct; others call it a gift of God. “If you knew me very well, you would know that I couldn’t do…what apparently I did. I am not that strong, smart, or brave. I’m just who I am.”
Lord, during times of disasters give us the strength to do what we ourselves are unable to do. Amen
Appreciation
“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.” 2 Thessalonians 1:3
I first met Jim while serving on the ambulance in Guttenberg. After leaving the area, I returned to work when Garber and Elkport, Iowa were destroyed, and there was Jim again. A few years older, but the same old smile on his face as he tried helping people as we worked with the American Red Cross. He hauls equipment, helps feed people, sets up cots, drives trucks, delivers food or quietly listens to people tell their stories.
In the firehouse at Bagley, I noticed there were a lot of Jim’s in there, coming in all shapes, sizes and ages, keeping busy serving people. They seem to wear warm smiles, because they are doing something they enjoy doing… helping people. Barbra Streisand used to sing a song, “People, people who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” I believe she is right.
Jim is one of those lucky people, who has found his nitch reaching out and helping. The last time I was with Jim in Bagley, he was driving a truck handing out food or water or something. When I hollered at him he looked up, smiled and waved. I never got the chance to personally thank Jim for coming, but I think he got all the thanks he needed just being allowed to come and serve.
Organizations like the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and other relief organizations are always looking for people who are willing to serve.
Lord, help us to find the joy of serving. Amen
A Few Thousand
“Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior.” Psalm 38:22
“Why is it that a few thousand seems like so much to save, and yet so little when it comes to rebuilding your life?”
It is hard to understand the cumulative value of homes until we lose it all. Once an old fishing buddy left a tackle box on the tailgate of his truck, while he went into a restaurant. When he returned, it was gone and he called the insurance company. His insurance covered the loss, but they needed a detailed list of what was inside. He shared about going through the box in his mind, attempting to make a detailed list, and guessing the values of the contents.
In the process, he realized that there was so much that he missed, items that were non-replaceable, things that had been handed down to him by his father. When the insurance check finally came though, he went on a buying spree attempting to replace his old tackle box. It was fun and exciting and when I came home I felt good about my purchases until he put them into a similar tackle box. He had spent all the money and yet the box was so empty. His figures were so short of the true value.
If this is true of an old tackle box, how much more true of a woman’s kitchen, a man’s shop, a child’s room, a record or DVD collection? Years worth of buying, investing creates accumulating more value than we realize until we attempt to replace it.
Father help us to be wise in attempting to figure the values of things that we have lost. Amen
Molds
“You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean” Leviticus 10:10
I faced mud, sewage, slime, and now this mold. I thought we were through the worst of it. We were starting to make real headway until this lady handed me this brochure about molds. They say ignorance is bliss until you read about the health hazards that comes from having molds growing in your house. I had seen it, but hoped that they would just go away.
We have lived in the river basin for years and putting up with humidity is just a fact of life. When the weather gets bad, we turn the air conditioner on to kill the heat, but we have never considered trying to deal with molds. It was late when I got around to reading the brochure, more out of curiosity than feeling it was a problem for us. The brochure explained that the influx of river water and sewage often carries the spores that cause the mold. But I was not worried.
I always go to the bathroom before I go to bed, and while I was in there, I noticed that there was… oh no mold growing around the tub. Nothing to worry about, that had been there for years and I would spray it in the morning. As I washed my hands, I decided to look under the sink, and d.mn there was some it growing there. Before I went to bed, I found it in a couple more places.
As I lay in bed, I found myself physically and emotionally exhausted. I am too tired to cry and to upset to go to sleep. God, what had I done to deserve this?
It seems like when you open up your flood gates, the problems we face grow in every corner of our worlds.
Give us your strength to see this thing through. Amen
It Works
“I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.” Psalm 143:5
After the flood ripped though our home, and my shop I took some time and pondered all the power tools that were destroyed, or I should say damaged. It is not that I use any of the power tools a lot, but periodically through the year. In thinking about it, I didn’t have anything to lose but a little time, and a little labor. So I got a hot tub of soapy water and dunked them in. After they sat for a while, I took them out and gave them a thorough cleaning with a high pressure hose, let them dry, then a good coating with WD-30 and guess what, they worked.
In a throw-out world, we have learned to simply replace things rather than finding ways of recycling or fixing items. Sadly, we have developed this attitude with people. People sometimes need a little help in order to become useful, or an asset to society. Sometime it takes a flood to change our perspectives. With a little bit of work, some old time ingenuity, things that were headed for the trash heap now with a little bit of TLC are serviceable again. It is amazing a little hot water, soap and WD-30 can do.
We have a number of churches that have expressed interested in helping refurbish homes for families that have lost everything. We are excited to see just what could happen if churches focused on meeting the needs of those in our community.
Lord open up the doors for us as churches to help those in need. Amen