Life After Gustav -- Wednesday Night

Power is slowly returning to our town. Our house got power back yesterday afternoon, but as we went to bed yesterday it was reported that 91% of our town was still without power. We sort of felt guilty for having power when so many others did not.

Meanwhile, our church still has no power. This afternoon the staff met at church and using a small generator for lights and gas to cook, we cooked up everything in our church freezer then delivered it to folks still without power.

But this lack of power, this 19th century life, is not all bad. In the aftermath of several storms I have witnessed a very unique bloom of community. Having been cooped up for several days and now without electricity people emerge from their homes. Neighbors seeking breeze begin to shoot that same breeze with one another. They check on each other and seek to help in any way possible. Damaged roofs are tarped even when the homeowner has evacuated and is not home. Generators are shared. Yesterday a neighbor whom until this week I have only waved to from my driveway to his, walked across the street to invite my family to take showers at his house since he had functioning hot water. It is really a wonderful thing to watch.

Then the power comes back on and we return to our cocoons.

We have begun to hear some sad stories in the wake of the storm. We have had several fatalities from tornadoes following the storm. One of these, a twenty one year young lady, is related to several folks in our church. Another church member worked with a man who was killed cutting down a tree in advance of the storm.

Tomorrow we will continue to address storm issues and also begin to think past the storm.