Catch the Fever

Ok, so last night I had my first taste of viewing a WNBA game. Yes, women's basketball. I'd say 9 out of 10 people I told that I was watching the game wondered why I would subject myself to a Fever game. Well, I got free tickets in the 5th row at Canseco and I like basketball. My actual response was that I had 5th row tickets to a concert (national anthem) and there was some basketball played afterward. Something like that. But it was a good experience. We ate downtown, then went to the game. It was a close game. There weren't any dunks but there were a few highlights. Go Fever. Good luck getting me to another game. Just send some more free tickets my way. I mean, they were passing out tickets in front of the stadium. That's how well-attended the games are.

But largely, I wanted this post to be about Saturday's trip to Columbus, IN, where flooding has devasted the area. Our church is coordinating the food bank in Indianapolis, sending trucks of food and supplies down to the flooded areas. For five straight days, they sent volunteers down to help people. Some carried furniture out of basements, others tore down ruined drywall, stripped floors, cleaned and performed other tasks. On Saturday, we had a group of about 70 people head down to help. I couldn't believe what I saw when we turned into this neighborhood that had been hit hard. Branches on the ground, gravel strewn throughout lawns, water marks on the siding showing where the standing water had risen to. One lady told us the water rose 3 feet in four minutes as the police knocked on her door and told her to evacuate.

Specifically, the team I led, which included four others, helped out two families. First, we had a very unsavory task... open up a house for the first time since the flood. That meant bacteria-laden water on the floors, ruined carpet and furniture, and a house that would likely be condemned. Unfortunately the ladies that lived there had no transportation. The neighbors felt that the ladies had been neglectful and should have returned to air out the house. They wondered why we even ventured into the house. Brian and I put on masks and boots and went in, opening up any doors and windows we could. Wow, the smells were awful. I poked my head out each window as I opened them, getting fresh air. We ended up feeling like we didn't get much accomplished there, but we cleaned out their garage, took some ruined possessions to the curb and placed stuff they wanted to save in the garage. We also talked to and prayed with some of their neighbors.

The second house we worked on was for an older gentleman who had lived in the house since 1951. And he had collected thousands of records along the way, mostly classical, he said. He had more than 18,000 records, almost all of which were in the basement and had floated through the crawl space hole into the crawl space. Thankfully, he had had help throughout the week, having pumped more than 140,000 gallons of water from his basement. His neighbor's pump had a gauge; that's a lot of water. His basement was nearly spotless and clean, but our task was to clear the crawl space of all the junk. Jennifer and Nate climbed into the space, which was about 5 feet high. So their backs took a toll being in there handing us soggy boxes of records. Under a time crunch, we hustled trip after trip of records up to the sidewalk and driveway, creating a massive pile of ruined records. We finished right at 4, which was right on schedule. God sent us exactly the right two jobs that day, and the people to help out.

The man we helped was so sweet, and despite his losses had a good spirit about him. He said he knew that anything we are given or gain in this life, we can't take with us. It's only what we do and give that count. He quoted some Scriptures, too, and I believe he is a Christian. It was uplifting to see his positive attitude despite the situation. His house was structurally fine, and no water seeped into his main floor. But just being there that day and seeing the flood's damage and its effect on families made me thankful for my situation and safety. My problems seem insignificant compared to theirs. It's good to get this perspective thrown at you from time to time.