It was 6 a.m. Thursday morning. En route to take my kitten to Pet Allies (another wonderful community support organization) drop off at the local Humane Shelter for her spay procedure, I spotted them lined up in the parking lot where the old civic center once stood.
Electrical trucks with men standing in a circle, looking like they were praying together before venturing forward to help strangers. Some of the trucks had license plates from Michigan and other areas.
Since then, I have seen these trucks all around our area. Servants of love is what I call them. Leaving their homes and traveling hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles to support and help restore electricity to victims of Hurricane Irma.
I thought back to Sunday night when I heard the storms arriving. Winds already blustered around my home.
I prayed we would not lose our power, but Monday morning as the winds gusted to more than 45 mph, the lights blinked off and did not return until late in the evening.
We have a town electric company where I live, and brave men went out into the height of the storm with winds whipping around them and stayed out late into the night restoring our town’s power.
My community was lucky. My sister in Georgia lights were out until today (Friday), almost four days after the winds had uprooted trees in their area and plunged communities into darkness.
I look on television and see others in Florida who may not have their power restored until next week. Entire towns need all of their substations, power poles, and transformers replaced after the destruction.
I have seen so many wonderful examples of support in our country in the past few weeks. Volunteers braving flood waters to rescue storm victims during Hurricane Harvey flooding in Texas.
A woman in a neighboring town did not have power in her own home, but owned her own restaurant in town. Not normally, open on Tuesday, she felt a call. She prayed to God that if she had power at her restaurant that she would provide free hot meals to her neighbors who lost their power too during the angry winds of Hurricane Irma. She dished out lots of love and support to friends and neighbors Tuesday night.
These volunteers from all walks of life restore my sense of wonder at how we reach out in love in times of disaster and despair. We support each other in so many ways: serving hot meals, buying supplies to load up on eighteen-wheeler trucks bound for Texas; rescuing those in the path of danger; and remaining through the aftermath to restore hope and light to a community ravaged by hurricane winds.
If we could capture that support and love in a bottle and release it when hate and violence grip us, what would our world look like?
The winds are gone and my power restored, but I see those trucks lined up in a field and my heart swells.
Written for the Five Minute Friday Community. This week’s word was “support.”
Thank you for sharing your heart. I’ve been sharing the many blessings and good from the recent Hurricane. We took a hard hit in my community but God is at work through all of this and I am grateful for His presence!
It has been so wonderful to see such support from so many people. These disasters have proven the true goodness in people. Lovely post!
He truly does see us through the storm. Thanks for stopping by.
I’ve seen lots of helpers in these days. What a gift!
I know. It was an inspirational site.
The good things about tragedy are it gives us an opportunity to show kindness to others and reminds us of our humanity. Beautiful images. All our hearts should be bursting from it. Thank you for sharing. Blessings! Stopping by from FMF!
I know. I just hope some will not wait for a storm. Thanks for commenting.