Saturday, April 22, 2006

DR 406 scaling down, Shelter Closed and Trailers out by the end of the day. . .

DR 406-06( the Red Cross number for this disaster) is scaling down. Early next week the effort will revert back to our local services group. The shelter and the people assocoated with it have found homes in new places. Two weeks ago many of their homes took in 3 ft of water. Today they have moved to new places throughout the county. I am glad that we have the infrastructure to absorb them into new places. This disaster was different for me in a lot of ways. This time instead of being a follower I was asked to lead. What a difference it makes when you know the decisions you make impact nearly every aspect of dozens of families. I believe I will be less critical of leaders in disaster in the future.
Lots of Good things happened for God during this effort: Preaching at the shelter; discussions with an admitted athesist; discussions with a person who is spiritual yet not yet convinced about God; discussions with a man who was raised in the COC but worshipped alcohol for many years. He is coming to church this weekend at Davis Park; discussions with a woman who is still controlled by all that is carnal in this world, but miserable because she has had a relationship with Jesus in the past; discussions with a Christian couple who have struggled this year with personal illness and the death of many loved ones. All of these people I would have never met had I not been involved in Disaster Relief.
Today I pulled the Community Response Trailer home. It looked good being used on the site. I am glad that we have a tool like that to use. The trailer provided an area for inventory that we used for feeding. Over 5000 meals were served from the inventory kept safe in the trailer. Additionally the Generator from the trailer provided electricity for 3 families for two weeks. It was referred to as God's generator on the project.
This closes out this project for now unless I remember something else that is important.

Go and make a difference for God today!

Buddy