Well, we had a little Hurricane Wannabe (three miles below an official Level 1 Hurricane) named Gabrielle sneak up on us here on the Gulf coast of Florida. Friends and family to whom I sent pictures all apologized by return e-mail for not knowing about the storm and checking to see how we survived. I wrote back and let them know that WE didn’t really know she was coming and we live here!

We threw the metal table in the pool and removed anything else from the yard that might go airborne and cause damage to someone else’s property or our own. The garbage cans all went into the garage, for instance.

Well, last Thursday night, the winds began picking up and what would amount to nearly ten inches of rain began to fall. We watched our local news channel for snatches of info on the storm. Most of the tv time was riveted on the horrible tragedies in NYC, D.C., and Pennsylvania.

Throughout the night I prayed that our tile roof would stay in place and the windows wouldn’t be caved in by high winds or debris. Of course, I asked the Lord to spare Tonka 02 and Pat’s Camry any damage.

When we woke up Friday morning, the back yard and the pool were full of small branches and leaves, mostly from our gigantic Live Oak tree. Two of our fences were on the ground. In the light of the everything else we all had to think about, it just wasn’t anything to gripe about. Yeh, the toilets didn’t flush for a while because we have a septic tank and the ground was quickly saturated. The fences would have to be replaced, the yard picked up. BTW, have you ever really tried to pick up a yard? (g)

The capper came in the light of day. At 10:07 am Friday, our electric went out. I believe the longest we’d ever gone before without electricity was five hours. Well, there were 500,000 homes without electricity in a 60 mile stretch along our coast. Florida Power & Light crews worked day and night. 250 additional crews came in from Carolina (thank you, Carolina!) We ended without power for a little over 50 hours. Tried to watch tv by candlelight, but, somehow, it didn’t work well. (g) My electric toothbrush ran out of charge and I had to brush my teeth with a manual toothbrush. I know, I know! Poor ol’ PapaJ! How deprived! (g)

Now, I’d like to stream of consciousness y’all about a few things I learned from this experience. I really want to hear from you about your experiences and what the Lord might say to you through my mental wanderings.

The fences came down primarily because the vertical posts were totally rotted at the ground. We couldn’t see the rot at all. The rotten parts were all inside UNTIL the posts broke off at ground level. When did the rot start? How long had it been there? Who knows. Any similarities to human rot come to your mind?

A neighbor lost a huge tree on his property. The above graphic is an actual picture of Walter’s tree. It went down because, in spite of it’s huge size, it had an extremely shallow root system. Who knew the root system was too shallow to support the huge tree? Do we ever sport beautiful leaves and huge branches while inside we lack the support system to keep it all right side up?

Of course, the wind exacerbated these problems tremendously. In the Word, the Holy Spirit is described as a wind. Is that part of the ministry God intended when He sent His Holy Spirit? The Bible tells us that we can’t see where it blows. We can, however, see the effects of its blowing, right? How many winds of tragedy have blown hard against us only to reveal that we have rotted insides and shallow roots.

Speaking of wind, I went for a drive the morning the electricity went out. I was driving down Clark Road and saw a large glass globe lift off a brick column at the entrance of a condominium. It sailed high into the air and began to dance along the unseen waves of the wind. It suddenly turned toward Tonka and I ducked. Silly me! I ducked! Fortunately, I also swerved and missed the missile!

Our son, Tim, has his own lawn and tree service. He has his regular customers. He also does work for other folks when asked. Almost immediately, after the storm, he and Debbie had to put their phone answering machine on direct pickup. People he’d never met, who’d never given him the time of day, were frantically calling and asking for his help clearing trees from their property and cleaning up. He just had far too much handle with his regular customers, his family, and his own yard, to keep everybody happy. Sometimes, people are strange, aren’t they? Unless their ox is in the ditch, they really don’t care much about anyone else’s ox.

The Lord ministered a lot to me through Gabrielle. Next time she wants to visit, I hope she’ll lose her Trip-Tik and head out to sea! (g)

I’d really appreciate hearing from you. Just use the “Leave a Reply” box below!  I’ll get back to you, for sure! You don’t know how much I wish I could print more of the responses each week. The ones that only I see are every bit as moving as the ones I’m able to include.

– Man did I cry when I read this. It makes me wish that I would have spent more time with the ones I loved before it was or is too late. I am deeply saddened about grandpa’s death but more saddened at the fact that it happened at a time when I could not attend his funeral. Now, I am saddened at the thought that my brother may go to war. I am making plans to see him as soon as possible so I do not make this mistake again before it is too late.

PapaJRay, whoever you are, thank you. I have printed your web page and put it in a frame . I only wish I could have said goodbye, but being a thousand miles away, hurt, and off work, it was not possible for me to get to Florida at this time. You would have loved my grandpa as we did. I remember when we were kids, my sister and I would always go and spend the night with my grandma and grandpa. He would show us things we never knew about as kids like how to dig up potatoes in his garden. He would walk us down railroad tracks to get the best blackberries. My grandma worked in a flower shop and would bring us flowers home. We rode three wheel bikes . My grandma made the best black eyed pea patties in the world and, to this day, I still wish I knew how to make them just like she did. Most of all, they gave us love. They never raised a hand or yelled at us. These are such simple things to most, but I never forgot them. They will remain in my heart forever.

They were the best. When my grandma died, I was devastated as a kid. I will never forget it because I loved her so much. Unfortunately, I grew so far apart from everyone partly because I was living so far away. Now I wish I could have said goodbye. I told him in my prayers the other night how much I missed him and that I was sorry for not being there for him. I have faith that he heard me. He is in a better place now and he is with my grandma. God will take care of him now and all of his hurt will be gone. I am only glad that he did not have to see what happened on 9/11/01. Instead of seeing the hate in this world, he is seeing the greatest thing in the world. Someday I hope I can join them.

– You must feel very blessed to have conducted the service for this gentleman! We surely need more like him, don’t we? When the son spoke of the “peach tree switch” I could relate to that.

– Parents can be the greatest folks or the worst nightmares. I guess it all depends on their life’s experiences. My father and mother have instilled in me integrity and fortitude from their examples. I have tried to promote the same with my two boys. I love my mother and father for my upbringing. I questioned it during those early years; however, now that I am a father I thank them every time I get an opportunity. I will always remember my parents for their good example-filled life of love, patience, kindness, sharing, and forgiveness. Thanks Mom and Dad.

– I bet you’ll get a tremendous response on this one, Jerry. What a wonderful antidote to the horror of the terrorist attacks to remember the role models and heroes in our lives.

– I was touched by this memorial. Brought back so many memories of my wonderful dad. He was also a sharecropper and wore his overalls. He was a poor, simple tenant farmer, but the most wonderful father in the world and taught us to have faith, serve God and live a Christian life. Most of his teaching was by example and to me he was a living angel. Thank you for bringing back so many good memories.

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