Blogging is a therapeutic thing for me. It is like journaling and gives me the opportunity to think and compose my thoughts. Our posting schedule may be abbreviated for a while until things get back to normal. Tonight I'll tell you a little about what I do at my "real" job. I am a plant manager at an oil company in Sulphur, Louisiana. We distribute fuel and lubricants to our customers, farmers, loggers, business and industry.
When Laura bore down with all her fury on our location, our focus was on helping our community in the restoration process. With the power grid down for weeks, people needed diesel to run generators to begin the reconstruction process, to have lights and to keep cool. As soon as the winds stopped blowing, we were there.
Below is a photo of our office after the storm. The front awning was in some trees 500 feet to the south and west. Parts of the roof were gone and the sign blown down. All of the windows were blown out. Coming up on 3 weeks since the storm, we still have no commercial power - just generator power.
One can only imagine the strength of the hurricane as it shattered every window in the building except one.
The reception area/lobby was in shambles. Prior to the storm, I was able to rescue the computers, copiers, phones, etc., but the devastation on the building was extensive.
Employees in our field of work know that when things like this happen, it is imperative that we get back to work. Our dispatcher's home is a total loss. Everyone else has extensive damage, no power, no water, but yet they returned to work - dependable, loyal, hard-working individuals with whom I am proud to work alongside.
The President of our company paid for tree removal companies to cut trees off of roofs and put tarps on roofs and loaned generators, leased campers, provided meals and fuel so that people could work to restore the community without having the overwhelming burden of dealing with the loss of their own property. I wrote the following messages on our boarded up front door:
Eighteen hour days for 18 days. Our team worked hard and are still working hard, delivering fuel and rebuilding our community. Resilient. Strong. They get knocked down, but get up again. It may be a long road, but we'll be back. In fact, it is getting better every day. Early one morning while loading his truck with 4,400 gallons of off-road diesel to deliver, I snapped the photo below of one of our drivers named "Boogie." He is sporting his best Superman pose.
As I sit here tonight and reflect on the past 3 weeks, I am reminded of a quote that I put on a yellow sticky I have taped to the monitor of my computer:
I think the cycle that this quote points to has been true throughout history. With good times, men feel bullet-proof and like to take credit for their achievement. In doing so, they become soft and hard times come. They leave God out of the equation. Hard times come and go. We are never promised ease and prosperity and absence of trial. If we keep our eyes fixed on Him, when hard times come, with His Strength, we can rise above the circumstances, endure discomfort, and find that good times will once again come. Thank you, God, for being a strong tower, a rock, a fortress in times of trouble.
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