When Disaster Strikes

When disaster strikes. Typhoons. Earthquakes. Hurricanes. All kinds of disaster seem to be happening all around us. The saying 'when it rains, it pours' seem to be the norm. Look at the US- right after hurricane Harvey, hurricane Irma followed right after. On Irma's tail is now hurricane Jose.

Let's look closer to home. Right now there are two typhoons ravaging the peninsula. Typhoon Maring unleashed rain, causing floods and landslides.At the same time, there's typhoon Lanie causing havoc as well. The typhoons already caused some deaths, tragically.

And when disaster strikes, there's really nothing we can do. We are humbled by the power of nature, and no amount of preparation can seem to be enough. Look at what happened in Texas- they called it a disaster of biblical proportions. Same with hurricane Irma- it was dubbed the hurricane of the century, because its ferocity has been such that several nations have been utterly devastated even before it made landfall in Florida.

We have seen utter hopelessness. We have seen people unable to cope with the disaster. We have seen people just break down and look back at the destruction, and if asked what they are going to do, there is nothing they can say except they absolutely no idea what they are going to do next.

Dream houses reduced to nothing. People who have just moved into the state wanting to have a fresh start suddenly found themselves homeless. If you look at it in the natural, yes, everything seems to be hopeless. Utter chaos. It would take weeks, if not months and years to clean up, let alone recover and rebuild.

But the amazing thing is, in the midst of all the devastation, in the midst of all the chaos, in the midst of all the hopelessness, we have also seen hundreds of stories of survival, we see moments of human resilience and empathy. Because you see, disasters have a way of bringing out the best in humanity.

One story that caught my attention is about a couple in Texas.The wife was pregnant, due to give birth any moment. They planned to  to the hospital before the hurricane became worse, but before they could even go, the area where they lived was already impassable. Both were medically trained, and they just moved into Texas to work at one of the hospitals there. The wife had two miscarriages before this, and they were really praying for this child. And at first, the odds seemed to be against them a third time. They have called 911, but the service was down or they were just too inundated with calls they were unable to help. So then the husband started preparing for delivery at home. He did not have any equipments though, and knowing there could be complications given his wife's history, he started praying, committing everything to God. They acknowledged that they have asked God for this baby, and it was up to Him to grant them their prayers. When word got out about their situation, other medical personnel in their building started helping, setting up whatever medical equipments they have at home.Somehow word got out, and the local fire station heard about it too. What happened next is just a miracle. The fire truck arrived, and the people in the neighborhood formed a human chain in the floodwaters,so that the husband and wife could get to the hospital. Long story short, the woman delivered the baby safely, and God made a way for them to get to the hospital because the baby had complications at birth. 

Even people who are not from Texas, who upon hearing that people over needed help, went out of their way going from house to house, seeking out people who have been stranded and helping them go to safer areas. 

This is another story. Anne Whitlock and Michael Skelly had been ferrying hurricane victims to the shelter from a nearby hospital. They knew the convention center was filling rapidly, and they were certain their own home, a 110-year old converted firehouse in Houston's east End, would be safe from the rising waters. So they brought home the family- a woman who had emigrated from Mexico, her two daughters, her brother and a family friend- and Skelly posted a message on Facebook urging others to do the same and take people in. And so began a chain of help, one Houston family assisting another, as the nation's fourth largest city grapples with the impact of an epic and devastating storm.

Let me share  one more story that will lift up your spirits. Some bakers in a Mexican bakery were trapped. They were trapped in the store for two days because of the floodwaters. What did they do? For two days, the bakers churned out hundreds of pieces of bread, filling the shelves of their bakery with their specialty. They watched, at peak of flooding, the water approached the door of the building, but fortunately the water did not go in, and they never lost electricity. At night, the bakers slept on the ground, on makeshift beds and a sack of flour. The bread from their two-day marathon was delivered to various shelters, and a police station nearby.

I could go on and on and on, sharing stories of goodwill, of people going out of their way to help, even if they didn't have to. And when we see or hear stories like this, we can't help but utter a prayer of thanks, thanking God for sending out people to help out. 

When disaster strikes. We see the bad. We see the chaos. We see the utter devastation and helplessness. But we also see hope, we see faith at work, we see miracles. And ablve all, we see the hand of God, touching people, sending provision to those in need, and even if not all people acknowledge Him, we see the goodness of humanity. We see that innately, we have been formed to empathize, to help, and to just encourage others.

I hope that we never get to experience disasters with such severity and magnitude, but when it does happen, we can always count on the goodness of God and the goodness of humanity to help us pull through and recover. And I say a prayer for all those affected, that they will be able to rebuild and recover, no matter where they are.

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