Many of us can’t do much to help Houston in this time of their need. Sure, there are ways and sites to send money, and that’s a great idea. But we don’t all have money to send, and we can’t all jump in our truck and rush to Texas with our bass boat in tow. We can all change our profile pictures to a Texas flag overlay, or send “thoughts and prayers,” but we’ve seen the empty truck memes delivering their load of thoughts and prayers.
Many polls today consider Houston the most diverse city in America. If not number one certainly in the top three. There is something that has stood out for me in all the stories coming out over the last week. Despite horrific circumstances and no doubt plenty of things that might have gone wrong, or will go wrong, I have seen an enormous amount of positive stories coming from there. All sorts of situations where people are helping each other. I have not seen much racial divide right now in their stories, in fact I’ve seen many stories where everyone is helping each other out across all racial differences. I, for one, feel like the people of Houston and the surrounding area are doing a stand up job trying to take care of things against very difficult odds.
So, here’s an idea I just came up with. If you can’t send money, or go there, or do anything else, maybe the best we can do is honor those people for pulling together in this tough time and let them help us. We can let them help us see how to treat each other, not just in a time of need, but as brothers and sisters every day. Let’s absorb the beautiful energy that comes from people, who in a time of crisis, begin to see each other through human and compassionate eyes.
If you ask yourself, “Where is God now?” when you see terrible things happen, look past the flooded water, look past the smoke, look past the destruction and the desolation. Look through the crevasse into that space where you see someone leaning over another person who has been struck down. A person who has walked into the fire to be there when so much around them is falling apart just to help someone they don’t even know. That is where you will find God.
This is happening in Houston. So in your prayers hold those people up. And while we’re at it, let’s all try and learn to be like them. When you think on Houston, maybe think of that and the world will begin to become a better place, even in the aftermath of tragedy.
Letters From Nod 