August 27, 2019 (Tuesday)
Sunday’s blog was about Harvey’s anniversary and Monday’s blog was about “the day after Harvey’s anniversary.” Today’s blog must then be about the day after the day after. Sounds silly, but here we are two years removed from the day that Harvey hit Texas and people are still dealing with the aftermath of that storm in various ways.
When things like injury or illness or general disaster hits us, sometimes they come to stay for a long while.
I recall when I was pastor in Dallas, one of the men of the church invited me to go with him and meet his son. His son was at work near downtown, and went with us next door to a restaurant to have coffee. It was in that restaurant that the son was hit by a car. A driver lost control of his vehicle and slammed through the plate glass wall, hitting the man I just met, who was still bearing the effects of that accident and would bear them the rest of his life. He was sitting in about the same place where he had been sitting years before when his life suddenly changed and would never be the same again. He wore special prosthetics and used crutches to move about.
We read about such accidents or hear about them on the evening news and go on about our business without giving what we just heard a second thought. But most of the time what we heard about was the beginning of a long period of suffering on the part of the sufferer and those close to him or her.
We all know people, and you may be one of them yourself, who got sick one day and instead of getting better, got worse. The illness turned into something worse, and the suffering continues day after day.
A hurricane is like that. It hits land. It moves on and dissipates. But that’s not the end of the pain it causes. It may get worse for people before getting better. That’s been the case for many since Harvey visited us, uninvited.
We as Christians must remember to keep people in our prayers. Their needs are ongoing; so our prayers should follow them throughout their time of need.
I have been blessed by what I have heard about what people are doing for each other, helping them in many ways, making themselves available and taking action to make things better for others. I’ve heard the testimonies of those who have let the Lord use them to be a blessing for others, and they are very inspirational.
Those who help others are living by the hymn that in itself is a prayer: “Others. Lord, yes others. Let this my motto be. Help me to live for others, that I might live like Thee.”
As you can see, the format of this blog has changed. I have given it a new name, “It’s On My Mind.” The print is larger, etc. which may help those with smaller screens as their monitors. Everything that was available in the past should be available now. I’m still learning about it all, so be patient, please, as we move forward with this blog.