Good morning…
Our friend missed class on Friday. She was on the panhandle of Florida surveying the devastation. Friday night she sent me a picture of the calm, gorgeous water after the storm with an email describing her family’s experience. With her permission, I share her words with you.
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Our Friday Morning Friend’s Experience of Hurricane Michael
Hi Sue!
We battened down the hatches on our home in Watercolor on Tuesday and drove home in a state of disbelief. We have been blessed to have owned a home there for 12 years. We have watched our boys grow up there and spent Thanksgivings, Christmas breaks, Easters, birthdays, and summer vacations there. We know the local bartenders and servers. We know the kind men and women who work at Publix. We know and love our neighbors. And we drove home on Tuesday not knowing if any of it or them would be there when we returned.
We spent Tuesday night huddled in bed watching the Weather Channel and praying (lots of praying) and reliving memories. No sleep could be found. We spent Wednesday in front of the TV again anxiously awaiting updates and texting friends and neighbors who chose to stay despite the evacuation orders. Then, we watched in horror as Mexico Beach and Panama City were destroyed.
Finally, like Noah sending out the dove and it returning with an olive branch, we heard…it’s over, Watercolor and 30A were spared. Our home, our friends’ homes and businesses and our friends were all ok. While relief spread over us and we got on our knees and thanked God, we felt guilty that while we were spared, so many were not.
We drove back down yesterday to put our house back together and to greet friends and celebrate. We spent the night on our outdoor swinging bed enjoying the cool temps and nature sounds because we had no power. What a wonderful gift that was. Something we would not have done had the AC worked. Today, we’ve seen our gorgeous beach, which actually looks better than it did a week ago.
Then again, I was reminded by our server at lunch of how much destruction was done just 20 short miles from here. He said, “I ran into all these people at a gas station in Freeport. They were trying to figure out where to go. They had fled Panama City but had returned to find their homes destroyed. They were like nomads. These people literally had nothing in the world but what they had in their car and no where to go and no money to get there.”
He took my breath away with his statement. These “nomads” are the ones we need to so desperately pray for. Pray for their safety and their wisdom in making decisions, and pray that our government and other disaster relief organizations will show up quickly and in a big, big way. Anyway…sorry for being so lengthy but this “disaster” hit too close to home. Praise God for what He did for us and for what He’s going to do for these displaced “nomads.”
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Let’s join our Friday morning friend, praying for each and every displaced “nomad” and praising the God who rebuilds lives. Thank the miracle-working God, His love never quits. The God whose skill formed the cosmos, His love never quits. The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations, His love never quits. The God who filled the skies with light, His love never quits. The sun to watch over the day, His love never quits. Moon and stars as guardians of the night, His love never quits (Psalm 136:4-9, MSG).
…Sue…
