This evening we had a post-Harvey dinner and get together at Zion. It was a good evening filled with food and laughter, stories of hurricane survival and clean-up, and prayers of thanksgiving and intercession for those who suffered so much.
A couple days ago, I had posted a picture on my Facebook page of my previous congregation, Our Shepherd in Crosby, sitting about 3 feet deep in a lake of water formerly known as Gum Gully.
Tonight, as we were eating, one woman came up to me and said she had seen the picture and wondered if I would consider it appropriate to take a door offering for Our Shepherd. "Others want to do this, too" she added.
So, with a lump in my throat that was part humility and part pride at serving these people, I watched the offering plate make its way through the crowd. I don't know what all made its way from people's hearts to that offering plate, but there were gifts given out of compassion from one congregation to another, joined by a pastor and a shared knowledge of what suffering entails.
I thank God for the saints in Crosby, even as they are suffering faithfully under the cross of a flood. I thank God for the saints in Mission Valley giving lovingly to fellow suffering brothers and sisters in Christ.
And I pray that the gifts of the one will bless the other, that they may continue to be a blessing to those around them.
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