The senior pastor at our church gave his final sermon at our church this past Sunday. A couple weeks back he announced that he was moving onto a church in Minnesota after 13 years in California.
Much of the sermon had applicability in the secular world, but there was one message that resonated given all that has taken place the past few weeks. Truth is a person.
Our government, our leaders, the "for profit" news organizations have been guilty of doling out the truth as one would dole out scarce grain to the hungry. But truth is a person, not a commodity.
Truth is George Jones of Beaumont, Texas who was filmed by a C-SPAN crew. George was outside his home on street with no life, a street that looked like it had been cleared by a superhuman sized street cleaner. He was busy cleaning his grill. "We're gonna barbeque our venison and other meat before it goes bad. We're gonna have ourselves a barbeque this afternoon. Me and the couple of neighbors who are still here."
The C-SPAN reporter continued with the questions, "Have you heard that they're evacuating the entire town? Are you staying? What are you going to do about water?"
George seems unfazed by all these questions. "I don't know why they turned off the water. We're here and doing okay. This is not like New Orleans. We're not nine feet below sea level. We survived Rita and ain't going nowhere."
Later, the C-SPAN crew is at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Beaumont where people are queued trying to get back to their homes to see what's left. The skies look clear and it's apparent that the brunt of the storm has passed. The security forces are not letting anyone through and those that push on are warned that there is another checkpoint down the road with troopers waiting who will just turn them back. At least one truck charges through with the driver obviously upset.
The truth is Les Sheffler who is sitting in his SUV with barely a quarter tank of gas with no idea about the location of the nearest shelter. Sitting next to him is his slightly frail looking 83-year old mother. "They're not telling us anything. Where we are the roads are drivable. Maybe it's worse in town, but they're not telling us anything. This doesn't make any sense. This just convinces me that I made the wrong choice by leaving. Next time I won't leave. I'm all prepared to make it through the next few days. "
"What are you going to do about water?" asks the C-SPAN reporter.
"I have a whole swimming pool full of water. I also have 35 to 40 gallons of drinking water stored just for this. I have a freezer full of food and a generator. If I can get in there I can save the food. I have gasoline stored and cars in the driveway with tanks full. If my roof is leaking I could cover it with tarps to prevent a total loss. This is all only about 4 miles from here and they won't let me in. This just doesn't figure. Next time I won't leave."
No comments:
Post a Comment