Encouraging one another
“We need one another. The more things get crazy, the more they seem to spin out of control, the more we recognize that our true allies are standing all around us, men and women as bemused by events as we are, as tired of living in the daily disaster as we are, longing for the firm ground of an honest dissent and a democratic process. Until that crazy gyroscope of power stops spinning, we need one another. We need common sense, strong values, deep listening, honest talk. The counter weight to confusion is community, the balance to chaos is a coherent vision.” Steven Charleston Facebook page
Eagle 8 Mexico Beach Florida
Returning to Florida
We remember and send prayers for safety to our friends on the Carolina coasts still recovering from Hurricane Florence and those in the Florida Panhandle hammered this weekend by Hurricane Michael, especially those in Panama City, Mexico Beach, and Port St. Joe. We pray for their churches in the Central Gulf Coast, Trinity Apalachicola, St. James Port St. Joe, St. Patrick’s Panama City, Holy Nativity Panama City, St. Andrews Panama City, Grace Panama City Beach, St. Thomas Laguna Beach, St. Matthews Chipley, St. Luke’s Marianna, and Nativity Dothan.
I so remember only last year when we were on our way back to the Alabama Gulf Coast after Hurricane Irma. Our destination was not damaged by that storm that devastated neighboring Florida. All of the cars we follow have Florida license plates. Some are packed to the gills. Some are dangerously carrying extra cans of gasoline in their trunk and on their roofs. Trucks with generators pass by. Pickup trucks are filled with bottled water. We spend the night at a hotel on the way where the parking lot is filled with cars with Florida licenses. The hotel is more like a hostel with large families with their large and small dogs.
There is no water under the causeway at Mobile Bay. It was all blown out to sea, to the gulf. Could this have been the way the Israelites crossed the Red Sea in the exodus? The waters were pushed out by hurricane winds for the Israelites to cross and then the storm surge came in when the tide changed to swallow up the Egyptians.
We say a prayer as each car passes remembering in the past our return to the gulf coast after the devastation by Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. The memories are still painful of not recognizing our road or our condo building or how to enter it, and the overpowering smell of rotting food in the refrigerator.
Perhaps this is what we have to offer. A tiny connection to what people are going through in Texas, the Carolinas, Florida, and the Caribbean, but knowing that theirs is so much worse. We send prayers and financial aid for the present. Waiting to hear about more. Most of all we stand together in relationship with them, hoping that they can feel in some way the cosmic love that is being sent to them.
We send hope, love, prayers, financial support, but mostly hope and promise that resurrection can come from this Good Friday.
Joanna joannaseibert.com