Kingdom Ministry in the streets of Cedar Rapids
Oh my Lord! My heart breaks as I reflect on a morning of helping families pack up their lives so they can quickly evacuate their homes before the 100-year flood of the Cedar River hits Cedar Rapids and Linn County!
I’m not sure which divine appointment hit me the hardest. Was it the young African-American boy who came up to me (because I had a “volunteer” tag on) and asked me when he and his mom could move back home again? Was it the stench of the dreary dark home of a crippled man named Jeff. He and his dog Cinnamon live a simple life in a small one bedroom house in the Time Check neighborhood. His wife died last year and he wanted desperately to salvage her large bedroom dresser stored away in the basement. As our team brought item after item up from his dark basement, we talked about his simple life. He said he was so fortunate that God had sent us his way to help him. Here was a man who was doubled over in pain, has tumors in his body, and he was thinking only about his “less-fortunate” neighbors who still needed help. Or maybe it was the Asian couple who were packed-up and waiting in their home for “someone” to come help them and evacuate them from the coming flood. It was by God’s appointment alone that we knocked on their door. There they were, sitting in their living room, waiting to be helped! Neither spoke English well, yet the international language of love stole our hearts. The lady was obviously not well. She had her oxygen machine going and we loaded up two additional tanks for her as our team took the couple off to a local shelter.
Oh Lord, how my heart breaks over the misery and suffering I see in the early stages of this disaster! And this is only the beginning. If the experts are right, it’s very likely that ALL of these people we met today might not have a home to return to. Oh God, give your CHURCH the anointing of Your Spirit and Your Power to meet the practical needs of these people and the countless thousands like them here in the Midwest! Pour out Your LOVE and MERCY so that we, who have Jesus, can run into the aftermath of this disaster with not only practical help, but the power of God’s redeeming love as well!
Wow…what a day. It’s amazing to me how calm the city can be in so many places and then the sense of chaos and destruction that is unfolding as the water continues to rise. This morning we headed back to Ellis Community to ‘Serve the City’ and found the water rising by the hour. Matthew and I loved having the chance to partner with Marty and Sandy, Mike, and Yamini…again knocking on doors moving people’s valuable to a higher floor. It was such an easy task for us but what was hard was not being able to save their home from being hit by the water that was closer to crashing in.
The couple from Vietnam was such a divine appointment for use today. As we drove off with the couple, Yamini and I drove through the rising waters trying to find them safe land and a place to call ‘home’. We got them to the shelter only to find they were turned away because they used oxygen and needed to take them to a medical facility. Through deep waters we tried and tried getting through town with no avial for a long time. The police dept. even told us not to even try…to go back but I wanted to find them a place they would be safe and cared for. I finally got to the Jane Boyd clinic and went in to talk to the director before I had them come in and asked them to please care for these people….I wasn’t able to give them anymore than that. I had no name, no idea of relation, they were just God’s people that he gave us to care for and they needed a place to stay. Broken english, they came in and we set them up with two recliners and their oxygen….as I left I was blessed knowing they were safe and cared for. God tonight as we sleep, I pray they sleep and know you care for them more than I can even imagine. Please keep them warm, feed them and clothe them. Jesus thanks again for chance to be your church. Tomorrow as the sun rises…we will awake for another day to do your work.