Neighbors Helping Neighbors

We attend Cornerstone Baptist Church located outside of Jennings, Louisiana.  We're a loving little church with people who love to serve.  During Hurricane Harvey this year, as everyone knows, the storm sat over southeast Texas and dumped torrential rains over our neighbors to the west.  We were spared much of the damage over in our neck of the woods, but the effects of storms are not foreign to us.  Our pastor, for example, lost his home to the flooding in Denham Springs, Louisiana in August 2016.  The rain had barely stopped falling when our pastor mobilized a response team from our church.  One team went to Orange, Texas several weeks ago and a second group of nine people went last weekend.

We left before daylight and signed in a little more than an hour later at North Orange Baptist Church where we were assigned a home and given breakfast and coffee.  Our work orders showed that the home received floodwaters and the original team cut out 18 inches of sheetrock and insulation.  Our job was to go ahead and remove 4 feet of sheetrock and insulation, pull nails out of the studs, remove cabinets in the kitchen and remove two showers, a vanity and toilet.  We also pulled the flooring from the master bedroom.

The weather was crisp and cool - perfect for demolition.  We called the homeowner and introduced ourselves.  Mrs. Judy showed up with two coffeepots that she promptly brewed strong coffee to fuel us.  She was a really nice lady who worked alongside us with a big smile the whole day.  Her husband, L.G., was a Viet Nam veteran who will be having heart surgery next week.  We circled and held hands and prayed for this family and then we started to work.  The youth began pulling the cabinets in the kitchen.  In the photo below you can see how the original crew cut out 18 inches of sheetrock.  You'll see how we pulled 4 feet in later photos.

The work went well.  Some of us pulled the sheetrock, some removed nails, others cut the insulation with a utility knife, while others swept and picked up debris.  We worked room by room, working hard, but smiling and joking and enjoying working with one another and getting to know Mrs. Judy better.  Despite the damage to her home and her husband's health, she had the biggest smile on her face the whole day. 

Once the sheetrock was removed and insulation cut out, the house "opened up."  We wore masks as the sheetrock dust from all of the demolition got very thick.  We had two wheelbarrows that were constantly moving, carrying debris to the roadside where it will be picked up by the city.

As the nails were pulled from the studs, they were dropped on the floor.  One of our team stuck one in his boot but fortunately, it did not go all the way through and into his foot.  We had a magnet that we swept back and forth from then on to gather all loose nails.

The pile by the roadside grew and grew.  We noticed a next door neighbor across the street was flying the flag of Israel.  We all thought that was pretty neat.

Despite one slight problem with a water leak that slowed us down a little bit, we got a lot of work done and cleaned up the work area and took pictures and hugged Mrs. Judy and prayed with her again.  Here she is with me and my two boys.

Here is a photo of the crew in front of Mrs. Judy's home.

And here is another photo of the Cornerstone Hurricane Relief Team in front of the home.  We were tired, but it felt good to serve a sister in Christ in her time of need.

As we packed up the trucks and trailer for the journey back home, we were amazed by the amount of work we were able to accomplish.  The pile of construction debris was a testimony to the work day.

We pulled out of the driveway and Mrs. Judy got our contact information as she wants to invite us to a house-warming party when she moves back in.  We met a new friend and had a fantastic day.  As we drove off I thought about Acts 20:35 that says:

In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.

It is so true.  Mrs. Judy was SO grateful, but as we left, I felt that WE got the bigger blessing.  In fact, we can't wait to go back and help out again.  We held a meeting before church Sunday evening and are planning a return trip to Orange, Texas on November 11th.