Encountering Harvey from a Distance

The wind blew and the rain came but still our daughter’s home in Katy, just outside Houston, Texas remained dry, except for the roof above our grandson Luke’s room. As the downpour continued Donna and Mark hunkered down in their well-lit and safe home hoping the wind would not take off more of their roofing shingles. I wanted them to leave as soon as the news announced the approach of hurricane Harvey but the local authorities repeatedly said they should remain. All I could do was pray.

Then the Corp of Engineers released the deep waters of a nearby reservoir and everything changed. When the water rose and the only way out was by boat, the “Cajun Navy” came and plucked them out of their home with nothing but their billfolds, insurance papers and Oliver their dog. Luke, a college student, found himself again in his former junior high school building, their new safe refuge.

That night they slept on the floor with Luke under a cafeteria table. Little Ollie, alert to it all, cozied down beside Donna. Mark slept about four hours that night and woke up to begin the FEMA application. They were offered a rental if they could get there right away but all three cars were under water.

Then the prayers of family and friends arrived in Heaven. A Facebook friend from Ohio I’ll call Sue, contacted me when she saw my post about Donna and her family’s home. She had a friend in Katy, I’ll call Mary, whose home stood on higher ground and she volunteered to contact her on Donna and Mark’s behalf. By the time I answered Mary, another couple with two young children offered Donna, Mark and Luke two bedrooms in the upstairs of their home.

Sue contacted me to check on the safety and situation of my family. As we FB chatted, she revealed that she too was originally from Ohio. Amazingly, we lived a few miles from Sue and Mary when my husband was in graduate school … and our four children, including Donna, went to the same Ohio school they attended.

A day later, a PTO vice president from the elementary school one of our sons attended there in Ohio messaged me concerning an assistance program they wanted to implement for a teacher and school in the Houston area. She contacted her former first grade teacher, Mary, in Katy, Texas and Mary gave her my name. She was so excited that she would be able to tell the PTO they would be helping someone who had been part of their school system.

My husband and I wanted to immediately help with clothes. The next day I transferred some money from our account to Donna and Mark’s bank for dry socks and whatever they needed. The bank didn’t charge the usual fee since it was going to Houston. A few days later, Bill and I went to a local hardware store to get some cleaning supplies Donna and Mark couldn’t get in Katy. Another couple shopping in the store heard us discussing which mosquito spray to buy and left a twenty dollar bill at the cash register to help pay for the items we were shipping.

I won’t tell you of the many times when angel wings brushed Donna and Mark’s shoulders. Those are their stories to tell. But, I had to let you know that God answers the simplest prayer. We know, because we experienced Harvey from afar and yet God listened and answered in His own precious way.

Matthew 10:30-31  “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”