ORANGE, Texas - Today I stopped by to check on a crew of volunteers. As I drove up the the street to the home where they were working on, I passed a cemetary and saw caskets that had literally popped out of the graves. Ike’s storm surge saturated the ground so much that the caskets were uprooted from their cement graves and scattered throughout the small cemetery.

As I sat in my car, I watched as this huge green machine retrieved storm-ravaged caskets and place them into a 53′ refrigerated semi trailer. This was a very surreal scene and I paused for a moment in deep respect for the surviving family members of the deceased.

I walked across the street and up to the home where the OBI volunteer crews were working. Immediately, I was embraced by the homeowner, Shirley, who held me tight for what seemed like minutes and said, “God truly sent angels went he sent you, Operation Blessing volunteers, and the 700 Club.”

Shirley explained that when she returned home, opened the door for the first time and saw her home ransacked by Ike’s floodwaters, she felt hopeless. She said that OB had turned her hopelessness into hope today as the volunteers helped her with the daunting task of cleaning her home.

Shirley also explained that her family had grown up on this land. The land and homes represented generations of her family and the cemetery held the bodies of her deceased family members. Shirley said she was grateful that none of her three brothers’ graves had been uprooted by the storm. Shirley is 67 and her disabled husband is 74. They are raising three children ages 8 - 13 that she adopted from family members who had either died or could no longer care for their children.

The eldest son helped by sorting through flooded debris, trying to salvage some of their belongings. He looked up and smiled as Shirley bragged on him and thanked Operation Blessing for helping her family.

As I left, Shirley was on the phone calling everyone she knew to let them know that Operation Blessing had sent angels of hope to her family.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 20th, 2008 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Disaster, Hurricane Relief, Jody Herrington, North America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.