here comes the rain.

I don't know if people realize the extent and gravity of loss the people in Houston have suffered.

I for sure didn't.

I volunteered with a group of church people today, cleaning out an auntie's house and tearing out sheet rock. It's been 10 days since the rain from Hurricane Harvey stopped, but it's been only 2 days since the waters went down in that area of west Houston. Her belongings had been in stagnant water for over a week. A week. 

And it wasn't just the things on the floor that were wet, it was everything. Everything. Everything but the board games and empty shoe boxes stacked on the top shelf of the closet. All the furniture and trash stashed underneath, every cd, dvd, and book on the shelf, every nick knack and candle, every folded shirt and towel - was wet. Sopping wet. And even after we had thrown out all the damp and dripping furniture, we had to scrap the wet walls.

So everything had mold. Everything. 

The cabinet and closet doors, stuffed animals, books, desks - it was everywhere. Green spots, black spots, fuzzy white puffs everywhere.

I can't even begin to describe how terribly it smelled. It was a putrid, rancid smell that was suffocating in the house, and still present in the air outside. All the first floor units in the roughly 1 square mile area had been flooded by 5 foot waters, so every condo was clearing out wet, moldy items with the same retched smell. Even after leaving for the day and scrubbing twice in the shower, the scent till lingered everywhere I went.

At one point while we were wheel-barrowing out trash, I saw several cards on the floor. They were all the same shade of bright red and pink and yellow, and I assumed they were part of a card deck or game that had been scattered. But as I leaned down to get a closer look, I realized they were old photos. Photos of the auntie's son at a birthday party, or with friends. The water had destroyed the colors to the red and yellow primaries. And I was immediately struck by how great the loss was.

They didn't even realize how fast it was coming, and how quick it was to destroy everything. And nothing could be saved or salvaged. The things that didn't mold still smelled of the surrounding mold, or had the potential to mold. The car interiors were covered with a layer of dried mud, from where the flooded waters had been. These people truly lost everything.

I felt like it was an embodiment of the passage in Matthew 6:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

And Hebrews 13:

For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Oh how temporal everything is.

I pray that we would be reminded of how this earth is passing away. And I pray that we would be reminded of the longer-lasting hope in Christ. And I pray that we would be diligent and persistent in reaching out to help our neighbors. There's a lot of work still to be done.

 09.09.17