When Bad Things Happen...

We live in a world where we only seem to hear the bad news.  And here in Alberta over the last while the flooding has seemed to generate a whole lot of that kind of news.

But in the middle of the struggles and heartbreak that so many are experiencing, there is also much good news.

Here is a note I recieved the other day that shows that in the middle of a whole lot of bad, good still shines.

"It’s 8:16 on Tuesday night and I just have to write to you to tell you what an amazing day we have had.  I volunteered at the church offices today until about 2:30.  Then called a friend to see if she needed any help – she lives in Bowness and was evacuated – her basement was filled with sludge up to about my chest level.  She sounded pretty frantic – so I called another friend to see if he wanted to help and off we raced to rescue my friend.  We bought a ton of mops and some bleach and some water.  What we were to see was most amazing.  Each yard is absolutely filled with debris from its house – to drive down the street is amazing – I don’t even think that I’ve ever seen this kind of wreckage in a movie!!!!!  Police everywhere; firetrucks everywhere; cops directing traffic; no places to park.  So we went down the back alley and it was even worse there – three or four beds just thrown in the garbage – I don’t know how the land fill sites will deal with this all.  Drywall, furniture – piles of it.  Wow!!!!!

When we got into my friend’s – absolutely incredible.  Strangers just walking down the street looking for who they can help – everywhere!!!!  So heartwarming.  Two guys came in and spent a good part of the afternoon sucking all the sludge out of the basement – you can only imagine how much there was – and these were complete strangers.  My friend and another young couple (again strangers who just had knocked on the door to see if they could help) spent the rest of the afternoon mopping and bleaching that basement.  They found more boxes which had not been brought up yet – just soaking of course.  They worked so hard. 

There were 4 other ladies there and we spent the afternoon wrapping and packing and sorting – my friend is a bit of a collector!!!!!!  No hot water – had to wash everything in cold water and soap.  No power.  As the afternoon wore on two more whole families came looking for work – the kids were outside washing big things down with a hose; people putting up a tent to see if it was worth salvaging.  Boxes and boxes of stuff all had to be washed down with the hose before the kitchen staff could take over.  The kids had a blast.  The community centre had sent buckets of cleaning supplies and boxes of sandwiches, fruit, loaves, etc.  These two new families who joined us – two of the ladies took off to get fresh coffee for everyone – on their own dime.  No one knew each other’s names – but we all laughed and sweated and just couldn’t believe all that was going on.  One of these families took on the photo albums – going through each page to see what pics could be saved if any – they ended up taking a tons of pictures home to dry out – because my friend has no room for them or even a place to spread them out to dry – they are going to lay them out, let them dry and put them back into new books!!!!!!!  Can you believe that!!!!  Then a truck came by – just two young women – with homemade spaghetti and meatballs, sushi, oranges, homemade bread and some stew.  All free.  By this time we were so hungry – I don’t know when I’ve ever tasted a better meal. 

Neighbours were popping by to share what was going on in their homes.  Electrical guys (volunteers) came by to check the breaker boxes.  During this afternoon, 5 of the people who showed up at one time or another were friends but there were 16 people who came by who were strangers – just wanting to help.  What an absolutely mind-blowing afternoon. 

We often hear about the bad guys – we probably won’t hear much about what happened today but it was extraordinary.

When we left, the basement was totally cleaned out and the fans were going – one of our pastors ran around to various homes to gather up fans.  There were actually a few chairs that had been cleaned off for people in the living room and kitchen.  We could see the kitchen counters.  She won’t be able to move back in yet for several days and of course the house still looked like a disaster but so much better than it had earlier – gave her some hope.

It’s an incredible story.  I wish that I had better words to describe it.  Most people are absolutely so kind."

Incredably, this is a story that can be told over and over these days.  I am so glad Sue shared it wiht me, and allowed me to share it with you. 

Be Blessed!