Praise Him in the Storm

"And I'll praise you in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise you in this storm."

From Praise You in This Storm by Casting Crowns

On Thursday, June 19th, I was listening to NPR's "Talk of the Nation" on a long drive back Downtown to my office. I heard this interview at the beginning of the show.

The woman being interviewed is a farmer who has lost most of her farm to the floods. I was able to record the interview, which is just over four minutes long. The part at the beginning, detailing the devastation from the flooding is interesting, but stuff that you've heard.

It's what the woman has to say at the end of the recording that is the "amazing" and truly wonderful part.

I sent a copy of the interview to my brother Pat, who is coordinator of faith formation and youth ministry for the Diocese of Davenport, IA. Over the years Pat has served in other capacities doing social outreach work for both the Davenport and Des Moine dioceses.

So when the floods came, Pat got out to see what he could do. The following is the story that he sent to me:

"Thanks for sending that sound clip along. It's a great report, all too typical of what's happened to so many farmers and others in our state. You're right... people hear the statistics, like that Iowa will take a $3-billion hit to our crops this year, or that thousands are homeless. But her testimony at the end is so powerful... She's bringing it strong about how God is big and will see us through and how everybody is putting their trust in God, and Robert Siegel responds 'Karen Schrock, Good luck to you,' and she comes back with, not in a corrective way, but just honestly, 'God's blessings to you.'

"I just got back from our Catholics in Action youth service retreat. It's a three-day experience we do every summer that involves over 100 youth and adults. This year, we really scrambled to help with flood response, which while the flooding has been all around us, was a real waiting game because the water has to go down and then homes have to be inspected for safety and for FEMA insurance purposes, so we mostly had to go upriver to Cedar Rapids to help out.

"The stories our youth were bringing back were incredible. I didn't get past the supply distribution command center on Sunday, as I had to help out with one of our kids who threw up. But on Monday, I went up and visited two of our crews that were cleaning out the home of a Laotian-American family in Cedar Rapids.

"The streets of the neighborhood were just lined with brown junk - couches and beds and appliances and other furnishings and clothes and just everything people owned. I spoke with the husband, who works for a printer, and the wife, who cleans hotel rooms. They'd lost pretty much everything, but their faith in God remained strong, and I really got the sense that our young people serving there gave them a sense of hope.

"I hadn't really planned well for this visit (my ministry during Catholics in Action is very much the 'behind the scenes' stuff) and I'd left my boots back at our home base. But I ducked down into their basement for about two minutes. I can only describe it as what one might imagine hell to be like... only wet. Fortunately, I'd experienced smells like this before in developing countries, so it wasn't so shocking to me, but it just didn't seem like America. I think it's more just a sense of 'how can this be Cedar Rapids?' It's just not right, but at the same time, it's up to us to make it as right as we can.

"This guy (the husband) who must've been in his late 50s and had this incredible integrity about him, just stood there and unloaded his pain to me in sorta-broken English, but it wasn't like a hopeless rant. He mentioned that he collected books (I can only imagine it was his only excess spending, as they raised 3 kids) and lost over 3,000 books, mostly history and religion books, in his basement. As a history and religion buff with far fewer books, I began to connect with the depth of his losses, not just home and possessions, but to some degree, sense of self.

"But again, the faith of this couple was incredible. I left our crews some N-95 facemasks and about 20 of my old T-shirts to give them, along with a new "Catholics in Action" shirt for the wife. I was gone by the time our crews did this, but I was told that the husband took the shirt, yanked off his dirty shirt and pulled this Medium-sized shirt over his body (he was built pretty much like Dad!). Everybody had a good laugh... wish I'd have seen that!

"Anyways, there is great hope here, and yet great need. Wheelbarrows and rubber gloves and strong backs will do much, but only faith will get us through."