A cup of coffee is an act of loving kindness even in the best of times. In times like we’re going through since Hurricane Helene, that coffee becomes an act of solidarity, of Christian love of the type Jesus commanded when he admonished to to “love our neighbor.”
Opinion
The opening of a home to others to cook a meal, cool off, charge a device, is beyond priceless. My husband and I were blessed to experience all these things in the first 72 hours after the Helene barrelled through Augusta as a Category 1 hurricane.
A dozen Augustans are known to have lost their lives to the story, including a grandfather and a great-grandson. We’ve all had to deal with scant information, sketchy communications, no electricity, and in many cases, no water. Schools and churches are closed for the foreseeable future. Mine last Sunday set aside 10 a.m. as a time for us all to pray for one another and for our community.
Trickster hurricane
Hurricane Helene was a trickster. Many of us didn’t take steps to prepare for the hurricane because weather forecasters told us she was veering west toward Atlanta, that we in Augusta would just get some heavy rain and maybe a little wind. A little wind.
I figured I could run my errands — gasoline since I was at half a tank and a prescription to be picked up — on Friday after the storm. The trick was on me.
I was awake in the wee hours of Friday morning when the old oak tree that has shaded our house since it was built in 1978 crashed into the kitchen and sun porch leaving gaping holes in both. It also punctured the roof in our bedroom and den so that we had relatively minor leaks there . . . compared to elsewhere in the house.
Friday morning, two neighbors climbed over the trees that locked us onto our property to check on us. That afternoon, friends-who-are-family were by to check on us. It took them an hour to get to our house, a trip that can normally be accomplished in about 15 minutes. They dodged downed powerlines, trees, non-working stoplights and more to come check on us. That night, we were at one of their homes, which didn’t lose power, for a hot dinner.
Prayers of thanksgiving
I have said so many prayers of Thanksgiving this week. Thanks that we have friends who would come check on us, and who would come back on Sunday morning to help us cut a way out of our property. Thanks for the resources to drive to Columbia for gasoline and other supplies. Thanks to having a house to go to to charge devices and have a hot meal.
God is good and grace abounds. That’s what a former pastor friend used to say, and he was right. God is good. Even with the loss and devastation we have all suffered, even with looking at mounting bills and months of waiting for repairs, God is good. Helping is coming from different places, including the local, state and federal governments. Many in this world live without electricity or running water. Surely we can make it a few days or a week. We may not like it, but we can survive a week without devices, without air-conditioning, without a waterproof house. At least it isn’t August and 100-degree days.
For me, I’m holding the words of Julian of Norwich very close right now: “All will be well. And all manner of things will be well.”
And when things are well again, we need to remember how we pulled together, how nothing mattered but helping others and how we loved our neighbors unconditionally.
