Traffic Jams

I hate traffic jams. Every time I have to drive in a big city I remember why I live in Rochester! I can get home from downtown in 10 minutes. There are times in Minneapolis that you can't go 2 miles in 10 minutes!

Last weekend, Mr. Friend and Youngster went with me to Cleveland to watch the Twins play. We left at 6 AM on Thursday which had us driving through Chicago during the noon hour. Mr. Friend drives through Chicago far more than I do, so I asked him which way he would recommend. Since it wasn't rush hour, he thought it would be OK to stay on I-90 through Chicago. We sailed right through town! There were only a couple of times that my speed dropped below 45 mph. I was shocked! I don't think I ever got through Chicago as quickly as we did that day.

We arrived in Cleveland, checked into our hotel, then headed out for some supper. Since Red Robin is the Youngster's favorite restaurant, and there was one really close to the hotel, that was chosen as our destination. Youngster loves their hamburgers! Actually, he loves a particular hamburger. He ALWAYS orders the same one. He mentioned at supper that he is afraid to try any other burger because he loves that one and if he doesn't like a different one as well he will feel as if he wasted the trip. That makes sense...

The next day was a fun day! We toured the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. Then headed for downtown Cleveland to watch the Twins play the Indians. It was a great game - the Twins won 1-0!

The next morning we headed back for Rochester. We left the hotel at 7:30 AM which got us into Chicago...during the noon hour. I had no qualms now about Chicago. Surely the traffic on Saturday would be better than the traffic on Thursday was! We entered Chicago and we were making great time...for a few miles. Then we hit a slowdown in the traffic. Actually it was a complete stop.

For the next two hours, we drove across Chicago. 

We stopped.

We drove slowly. 

We stopped. 

We tried different lanes. It didn't help. 

For some unknown reason, the traffic was horrible - worse than any Chicago traffic I had encountered before. I kept expecting to see an accident up ahead, or maybe some road construction. But no, the only reason for the slow traffic was a tremendous number of vehicles on I-90. By the time I finally reached the western side of Chicago and the traffic picked up to a normal pace, I had sworn I would never drive through Chicago again! Chances are I will have to eat those words someday!

Sometimes life is like Chicago traffic. Sometimes life is easy and your sailing along and enjoying the ride. But sometimes life is not so easy. Sometimes things get in your way and you feel like it is a struggle to make any headway at all.

It is tempting to fall into "pity" mode when we are in the midst of life's struggles. It is tempting to quit reading your Bible. It is tempting to stop praying. After all, you haven't heard anything from God for a while. That is a major part of the struggle. But it is during those times that we must spend even more time in the Bible and even more time in prayer! God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. That means that He is there, even though we may not sense it. As Henry Blackaby has said, don't interpret the Scriptures by your experiences; interpret your experiences by Scripture! We need to believe God's Word that He hears our prayers, even when we don't sense it. We need to believe that all things work to the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.

In reality, our slowdown through Chicago was not that bad. We still made it home in good time.

And in reality, our difficult days will pass, easier days will return, and our faith in the Lord will be even greater! God is always faithful to keep His promises! 

Disaster Relief In Louisiana

I first became aware of disaster relief shortly after we moved to Minnesota. We became aware that Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptists had several teams, but the most visible one was the feeding unit. This unit was a mobile kitchen that could be used to prepare the food that would be handed out by the Red Cross during a major disaster.
The team who manned the feeding unit were activated during the flooding at Rushford. The kitchen was set up in Winona and then various groups distributed the food to those impacted by the flooding. The team also flew to New York City and helped feed the responders at Ground Zero after 9-11.
I was attracted to the idea of serving on a disaster relief team, but I didn't have enough vacation time saved up to be able to take the time to go. So for years I never took the first step of taking the basic training that would prepare me to serve. But then I had no excuses when our disaster relief leader offered to do the basic training in the church that I served as pastor. So I took that class and filled out all the paperwork and received the recommendations that laid the groundwork for me to serve in disaster relief.
When the flooding hit Louisiana last year, it caught my attention. It was hard to imagine the amount of rain they received in a short time - 2 feet of rain in 2 days! The papers said it was a 1,000 year rainstorm! I followed the news over the coming weeks. Then the announcement came that Minnesota-Wisconsin might get called to go and help the victims.
I contacted our disaster relief leader and discovered that I could go and receive the rest of the training that I needed at the site. I had plenty of vacation time saved up, so I was fresh out of excuses! I checked with my boss at work and she gave me the green light to go. The next week I was driving my little Subaru to Louisiana!
I would be working on the shower and laundry unit, and the other two team members were waiting to train me on that work at the church where we stayed. My work was different than a lot of disaster relief jobs because I was not serving those who were flooded, I was serving the ones who were serving those who were flooded! In other words, I was support for the ones doing the dirty work. And it was dirty work! It is difficult to imagine what it would be like to dig mud out of someone's house, tear the drywall out, and then spray the studs to prevent any black mold from growing. These men and women came in filthy every night!
My team had several jobs. We cleaned the showers in the morning as soon as everyone left for work. We cleaned the bathrooms in the church. We swept the floors in the dining area and the hallways of the church. We helped the kitchen crew as needed when they were preparing the food for the relief workers. And we did laundry.
I never realized how much our work meant to those working to help the flood victims until I heard the stories of some who had been involved in the early days of disaster relief work. There were no mobile shower units at that time. So people got as clean as they could in the bathroom sink and slept in the gunk they had worked in all day. They had no mobile laundry units, so they wore those same clothes multiple days as they cleaned mud out of the homes. Those folks appreciated the work my team was doing!
While I was not directly involved in the relief efforts, I did get a chance to drive around and see the damage. We drove through one neighborhood where houses were still standing in 3-4 feet of water - a full month after the 1,000 year rain fell!
Every night the teams would tell stories of the work they had been involved in. I remember one couple who had recently retired. In order to reduce their expenses, and since their house had never come close to flooding in thirty years, they canceled their flood insurance. Just a few months later came the 1,000 year rain. It is hard to imagine their pain in that situation.
As we gear up to start a new church along Highway 14 east of Rochester, God led me to focus our efforts in two areas - loving God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). Disaster relief is an area where we can love our neighbors as ourselves! With all the many options available in disaster relief, anyone can serve.
The men I met in Louisiana went on disaster trips nearly every year. Every time they heard of a disaster, they could not stay away! I know I will be going again...