You Never Know
After a full year of planning in the works, we have just returned from the 2017 SWAT in Waco, TX on the heels of hurricane Harvey (we didn’t plan for that!). I am happy to report that all is well with our group and we have completed this year’s trip safely. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces again as we brought our latest offerings to share.
It is so easy to take things for granted, like electricity, shelter, clean food and water, even just a place to call home, or lay your head down at the end of a hard day. Of course everyone was talking about the impending hurricane headed our way as the symposium unfolded in Waco only 190 miles from Galveston and Corpus Christi where hurricane Harvey made landfall. Every hotel room was completely full and some folks shared rooms that they normally wouldn’t. At one point there were discussions of us having to evacuate the Waco Civic Center Hall in order to house refugees. That is something we would have gladly done in an instant if it meant getting families out of the weather who had just possibly lost everything.
Very early Friday morning we had an opportunity to speak with about 30 Army soldiers having perhaps their last hot meal for some time at an IHOP as they headed south directly into the devastation which waited on the Texas coast. My prayers are with these brave men and women and their fellow soldiers who left their families behind in order to help other folks suffering from such a devastating weather event. I think that is when it actually became real to me. I had my wife and one of my sons with me to help with this symposium and we had a very comfortable hotel to return to at the end of the day and a roof over our heads out of the torrential rains in the meantime. Then I had a request to make a new type of Christmas ornament kit for Gold Star Families who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Watch for that in the near future. My life seems pretty awesome about now.
As I spoke with one attendee from Corpus Christi (they took a direct hit from this hurricane) who had done everything humanly possible and was trusting in the All Mighty for the rest, all of this other stuff seemed to not matter so much. We never know what someone else might be facing until we are smacked right in the face with it. That reminded me that turning wood is a wonderful hobby for most of us and that there is really nothing for sale in my booth that folks couldn’t live without compared to what possibly lays ahead for some of my guests.
I hope you will join with me in doing whatever you can to help folks recover in the coming days. We will be contributing some of the essentials like clothing and non-perishable food items as the opportunity presents itself. You might even think about giving blood this time around as I plan to because wherever you go, there you are.
Here is my inspiration for this message.
Romans 2:13 MSG Merely hearing God's law is a waste of your time if you don't do what he commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God.
Ephesians 5:11MSG Don't waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are.
Proverbs 12:23 MSG Prudent people don't flaunt their knowledge; talkative fools broadcast their silliness.
Prov 29:27 NIV The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright.
P.S. I would be remiss if I didn’t pass along my condolences to the family and friends of an extraordinary member of the turning family as we lost a brother much too early last week, Mr. Bin Pho.
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