STORY # 3 FROM HURRICANE LAURA DISASTER RESPONSE IN NEWTON

One afternoon Jody Hooper, Vice Chair of SMI, and I were scouting for people who had completed work order requests.  We turned into a driveway of a house with a tarp partially covering a hole where a large oak tree had been removed.  As we approached the house an elderly lady came around the house and extended a greeting.  We discovered she is a widow of a retired military husband. She is also a retired teacher from Alaska.  We asked if we could see inside her house and she gave us permission.  As we entered the living room we could only see a wall of downed sheetrock and smell the mold that was already spreading through the house.  We quickly suggested we exit the house due to the mold.  As we turned to exit, she asked if we could help her retrieve a painting her husband had purchased for her just before they moved from Alaska.  As Jody reached over the table to get the painting, I saw a framed filled with photos of her husband and the medals he had been awarded during his time of service.  Also on the wall was the framed flag that had draped her husband’s coffin.  I asked her if she wanted to take these as well.  When she saw them, she broke into tears and said, “I just don’t know what I need to do or take!”  We gathered these few special belongings and exited the house.  As we stood in the front yard next to the downed tree, we learned she had lost her home insurance coverage five months before the storm.  After expressing her embarrassment, through tears, of not getting new coverage, she began to share how she had faith and was continuing to pray and read her Bible.  She shared a couple of things she had recently learned while reading the Bible and the joy of the Lord poured from her.  We prayed with her before we left and promised we would return on Saturday to help her.  On Saturday a great group of men and one lady worked from 8:30-7:30 building a temporary enclosure over the huge hole to support a tarp.  We continue the journey with this widow.  As of today, a retired military group has gutted her house and assisted her in salvaging many of her personal items.  Also, four Mennonite men from New York are now framing up the hole and by Thursday will have the roof completed and the house permanently dried in!  We will be placing dehumidifiers in the house soon after the roof completion to help extract moisture from the framework inside the house.  Once the framework is dry, we will recruit volunteers to install sheetrock followed by taping and floating.  If you would like to help in this process through financial gifts and/or volunteering, please let us hear from you.  You may contact Stepstones Ministry International by dropping us an email at stepstones.info@yahoo.com.

STORY # 2 FROM HURRICANE LAURA DISASTER RESPONSE IN NEWTON

I have come to learn over the years, especially since the early 1990’s, that a phone call can change your day, your attitude, focus and even your destiny.  I have taught that fact over the years and it was once again true during the time of deployment in Newton.  One morning, not a phone call, but a knock at the door changed the direction of our day.  We were waiting on a new team member to arrive when the knock on the door took place.  We answered the knock with a come in!  When the door opened it was not the team member we were waiting on, but a man with a big black German Shepherd.  He told us he had been watching us and knew we were in town assisting people who needed help.  He said, “I have a friend who is a Navy Veteran and had a stroke last year.  He had several large trees come down across his driveway that broke the transformer pole at the street and tore the weather head from his house.  He has been without electricity for 14 days and cannot be reconnected until trees are removed and weather head is repaired.  Is there anything you can do to help?”  As you can imagine, this became a priority!  We traveled to the house to find two very large trees across the driveway and extending over the street.  This was a very interesting job that required some special skills.  Because God is all knowing and the God who provides there was a member on the team who once owned a tree service.  This team member took charge and began safely and methodically removing the portion of the tree extending over the road.  After lunch the team returned to continue the work.  Mid-afternoon the Navy Vet drove up and discovered a large portion of the tree removed.  He was elated and began to express his appreciation.  By the end of the day the trees were cut and stacked by the road for the city to haul away.  As the team prayed with the gentleman, he said, Ya’ll are literally and answer to prayer!  Yesterday, I prayed and said, ‘God, I don’t know what to do, will you help me?  See, you are an answer to prayer!” The next time the phone rings or there is a knock on the door, don’t see it as an interruption, it just might be God inviting you to participate with Him in being an answer to prayer!  We as a ministry are continuing to follow up with this gentleman.  We are now two weeks beyond the tree being removed and there is still no electricity to the house.  The gentleman does not presently have the financial resources to repair his weather head and the electric company has not reset the transformer and the pole.  Please be in prayer for this need to be met!

STORY # 1 FROM HURRICANE LAURA DISASTER RESPONSE IN NEWTON

When you enter a property to offer assistance following a disaster you never know what you will encounter, the people you will meet or the stories you will encounter.  Turing off the county road on to a drive way deep in the woods it was overwhelming the number of trees down on this property.  Knocking on the door and identifying myself was the beginning of a journey that I would not trade.  The door opened and I met Mr. C.  Mr. C had been trying to clear his yard, but his wife was concerned for his health.  Unknowingly to Mr. C, Mrs. C had completed paperwork requesting help clearing their property.  Mr. C showed us around the property and we saw the enormous job ahead.  As we served Mr. and Mrs. C we began to hear more of their story.  The reason Mrs. C was concerned for Mr. C’s health was because he had a heart attack two years ago which resulted in five bypasses.  As the trees began to be cut and three large piles stacked in the pasture with a skid steer, Mr. C became more and more thrilled to receive the help.  As hours passed and the skid steer never stopping, I had the privilege of hearing stories from Mr. C and discovered he is a man of faith and at the age of 82 still faithfully teaches and serves his Sunday school class.  We shared favorite verses, Bible stories and encounters with God we each had enjoyed.  After praying with Mr. and Mrs. C, Mr. C said, “If you are ever back in this area, please stop by to see if I’m sitting in a chair on the property.  I would love to have more time to visit!”  I hope there is another opportunity to visit with Mr. and Mrs. C as we sit in chairs on their property! 

Hurricane Laura Disaster Relief Response in Newton, Texas

     Stepstones personnel made a day trip through Newton, Texas, Merryville, Louisiana and Lake Charles, Louisiana on Tuesday September 1st.  As we visited with our contacts, it was obvious that needs were abundant in all these areas, as well as many more we passed.  As the day unfolded, it became clear we were to settle in Newton.  There were no groups in Newton at the time of our visit and by the time we arrived on Saturday September 5th a few groups were at work.  We were given access to the recently vacated parsonage of FBC Newton where teams slept, ate meals, shared life, engaged in spiritual conversations and gained much needed rest.  We partnered with the Newton/Jasper County Long Term Recovery Group based out of the County Extension Office.  This group gathered work request applications and passed them on to us.  During the 15 days we were in Newton we were able to assist 32 families in some type of recovery effort from placing a tarp on their roof, cutting trees off of and around their house to partially rebuilding a roof.  The response from individuals, couples, Sunday School Classes and Churches to supply needs was amazing.  There were 34 people who came to help in the recovery effort.  A cook team of 17, comprised of two churches in Broaddus, kept us very well supplied with food.  There were 24 entities who provided necessary resources from snacks, to chain saws, to monetary contributions and other necessary supplies. There were 14 churches that participated with us in this disaster response and for this we are grateful.  In the days to come numerous stories will be shared of people we met and served during our time in Newton.

JUSTICE, WRATH, GRACE

Our nation is presently reeling with anger from a multiplicity of directions.  In just a few moments of invested time listening and viewing we are observing all the familiar sayings resonating through space. What do all proclaim, desire, cry out for?  What is the desire of every group?  The cry is for justice!  We look, hear and experience the devastation of life and property.  We all from our own point of view want someone held accountable.  We want someone to pay a price for a wrong committed.  Wrong has a clarion title and it is SIN!  We have all sinned and fallen short of all that we are created to be.  We are all born into sin and thus we act wrongly.  There are no innocent people!  We are all guilty of something and deserve to pay a price for that sin, for that wrong.  It’s much easier to point out what is wrong in others because we all possess the original sin of pride.  The problem with pride is, we think we are better than we are.  We can always find someone to compare ourselves to that makes us feel or look better.  The problem is, we are comparing impurity to impurity! We cannot from impurity judge or be judged correctly.  What is needed is a pure, perfect standard by which to evaluate and/or compare ourselves.  Only that which is pure, perfect can truly, accurately judge or determine.  What happens when I am honestly compared to perfection?  I fall short!  I deserve to pay a price!  I deserve to be held accountable.  I deserve to be convicted for my sin, impurity!  Jesus is the only pure example for which to compare ourselves.  Jesus is without sin, blot or blemish!  He is God in the flesh, He is the exact representation of God.  He has explained God! SO, when we stand before Jesus and compare ourselves to Him we are found lacking!  Our sin is fully exposed!  Now we must ask, “What justice will I incur?” Do I want to experience wrath or grace?  Now we have a choice, we can continue with business as usual and pay a price or we can look for purity to pay the price.  Remember the only pure one is Jesus!  Impurity cannot pay the price for impurity!  The impurity of Barabbas being set free did not free Jesus, but Jesus’ is able to set free! The only choice to avoid punishment of sin is to appeal to perfection, JESUS!  Now there is GOOD NEWS!  There is HOPE!  There is an inherent desire for justice!  We all want someone to pay!  Someone has paid, His name is Jesus!  There is no other name by which we can be saved/spared from true justice.  We can receive justification(recreated as though we have never sinned) by surrendering to submitting to the truth of Jesus and allowing Him to be Lord of our Life.  The price we pay for our sin is hell.  The price Jesus paid for us through His shed blood, death, burial and resurrection, IF surrendered to, brings reconciliation that leads to peace with God and one with another.  As a bonus, we get heaven when we die.  So do you want justice or grace for your sin?

            Mark                Jesus preached saying, “the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of heaven is                                                            at hand; repent and believe the gospel.”

            Romans 3:10   There is none righteous, not even one.

            Romans 3:23  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

            Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in                                                        Christ Jesus our Lord.

            Romans 5:8     But God demonstrated His own love for us, in that while we were yet                                                        sinners Christ died for us.

            John 3:16       For God so lived the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever                                                      believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

            Romans 10:9-10    that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in                                                         your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

            Romans 10:13       for, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

            Acts 4:12          “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under                                                 heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

            John 14:6       Jesus sad, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father                                        but through Me.”