My help comes from the Lord
"I will praise the name of God with song, and shall magnify Him with Thanks-giving. It will please the LORD (Yahveh) better than an ox or a young bull."
Ps 69:30,31
To Those Whom God Loves,
Greetings to you this Thanksgiving in the in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ!
After the destruction of hurricane Sandy, some folks in the states of New York and New Jersey may be wondering what they should be thankful for. Those who think of this celebration as "turkey day" only, might so argue. I have never seen so much destruction in one area, including my experience as a soldier in Vietnam. Surely every store front in the Russian area of Brighton Beach, suffered flooding from the 14 foot ocean surge. Fortunately, our congregation there, Hope of Israel, is located on the 2nd floor above a Russian market and remained dry. Tottenville, on the southern tip of Staten Island was hit very hard. We had just visited a small church there, South Baptist, a few weeks before Sandy. The homes in the low-lying area of New Dorp where many Russians live were also inundated. The town that we lived in on Long Island, Oceanside, was devastated. I'm certain that the house which we used to live in there was flooded.
All the towns around suffered as well. Considering homes and businesses ruined on the Jersey Shore as well, the cost has been estimated as high as $60 billion. I never saw so many broken trees. Driving on local streets was truly like navigating a maze. Fortunately, I practiced what I preached in our previous letter and got prepared. We had food, water and gas tanks filled and glad to have batteries and a kerosene lamp. Without media, TV, internet, cell phone or land lines, it was like we were thrust back into my childhood days sitting around the radio. At first it left us with a hollow feeling, but then…well, it was kind of okay – a break from all of that stuff. We also had a 7pm curfew. I was banned from the Manhattan bridges, and tunnels were flooded – unbelievable! We, ourselves, suffered no loss of property. For houses built on the beach (sand), Jesus' words came to mind, "…the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house and it fell, and great was the fall" – not wise.
So where is the Thanksgiving? As many as 70 could have died, but that is out of 12 million people in the metro area. More people cried out to God. One world war 2 vet told a TV correspondent that he prayed for 20 hours that someone would bring 2 gallons of water up to his apartment on the 9th floor through dark corridors. The correspondent said, "I'll take it up for you."
It's good to see people help each other. I had just helped an older man, Michael, blind in one eye, move from one basement apartment to another just 2 days prior to the flood. He lost everything. With gifts from others, we were able to help him get some basics. I helped him
|
