School Cancelled Due to Hurricane

A paper with these words was delivered to me this afternoon, about a quarter-till three, so I could tell my class before they went home. The thoughts in my head went a bit like this….”oh good, I’ll have time to plan and get some work done”, “Wednesday is my easy day, I get to come back and have my easy day, alright!”, “Hurricane, that might be kind of cool to experience.”, “I should have assigned a little more homework in my history classes”, “I’m going to get some fun snacks at the store this afternoon”, “better run this afternoon since it will be raining tomorrow and I won’t be able to.”  Ok, that’s all I will put you through. All of that literally went through my head, almost in that order.

You know the thought that didn’t come into my head until about an hour later…”What about all those people living in tents? What do they do when the rains come?” Likely, the big part of the storm is going to miss us, we will only get the residual rainfall. It will likely be a lot, but not a total onslaught of Mother Nature. But really, how much rain is too much rain for those tents? I’ve only seen a few of these homes. The ones I’ve seen are old and weathered, holes patched with more fabric or leaky cardboard, rocks and dirt for the floor, rusted tin at best, a thread-bare sheet (or nothing) at worst. What do they do when it rains normally here, not from the edges of a hurricane? I’ve been caught in a couple rain showers in the past two weeks, and they aren’t gentle. There is little warning and then the heavens burst open and buckets come down. I don’t know what they do.

I’m not beating myself up for my thought process mentioned above, I’m only human. I am, however, thankful that somewhere, in the back of my mind, that last thought was able to squeeze its way in past the self-centered, self-focused thoughts swirling around and make it to the front of my mind. I am thankful for that gentle prodding from God "Remember, it's about people. People. My crown of creation...people." My thoughts are sometimes the most selfish thing about me and I'm happy to be humbled in that area.

So, tonight and tomorrow, whether the storm gets bigger or smaller, whether it hits us or misses us by miles, pray for Haiti: for the people in the tents and for the ones outside who drive by. Pray for the people in Haiti who will be wet and pray for those who are in big, dry, houses. Pray for Nadia, Evanson, Moise, Kristal, Justin, and the dozens of other kids whose names I, unfortunately, can’t remember and who are living in tents or in smaller hut-like homes.

P.S. I know I said no little kid pictures, but last Saturday a couple of the kids grabbed my ipod (has a camera) and went nuts. Here is a picture of sweet Nadia, so you can put a face with a name.