Life since Hurricane Ike made his grand, but entirely unwelcome presence felt in Houston has been interesting. Very interesting.

Exactly one week ago, I was fighting sleep at this time of night as I tried to stay awake to see my first major hurricane in years. Now, I am typing away to the not-so-gentle strains of a generator.

If you had told me seven days ago that my home in the big, thriving metropolis of Houston would be without power for a week, I would have bought a few more cans of tuna. Had you told me that Centerpoint thought the outage could last for yet another week, I would have headed for the hills.

I digress.

Still, my resilient effort of attempting to stay awake for Ike failed miserably . . . at least until around 3:00AM. Once Ike made his presence known, nobody was sleeping at my house. Watching my neighbor’s giant oak tree swing back and forth was cool for about 1.5 seconds. Plotting the tree’s potential trajectory was my next logical exercise until I realized I was standing in its way.

Needless to say, the last week has been quite the experience. But a good experience. My family has started to know many of our neighbors better, watched a struggling community pull itself together, and seen the power of God firsthand.

Friends have been helping friends—-and total strangers. Instead of hording precious bags of ice, neighbors have been trotting down the street with ziplocs filled with ice. Whoever has room in their freezer has food stashed away from neighbors near and friends far.

It is times like these that we as Christians can show by physical acts the overwhelming love of Christ. As John 13:35 says, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I have seen and heard so many special stories post-Ike which I hope I remember to treasure, despite the disaster and devastation of the past week. I watched my father outside in the pouring rain, long before the final bands of Ike passed, helping our neighbors begin to put the pieces back together. The word “neighbor” now holds a special meaning as we all pitch in to help each other.

Individuals all around the city have been passing generators around like hot potatoes, always making sure that one is not left idle when it could be in the hands of a family in need. Take my dad’s co-workers for instance. These guys have already passed one traveling generator to three different households in only seven days.

After the storm, my cell phone, Facebook, and email were bombarded by friends checking in to see if all was good. Friends and family as far away as San Antonio and New Orleans have offered the most priceless of commodities right now—a house with electricity!

The end is unquestionably not in sight, but with each passing day, I have made a new memory. Sometime—-after the power comes back—-I plan to reflect a bit and write out the maybe 10, 20, 30, 101 things I learned from the storm.

In the meanwhile, I am so grateful to God for giving me a small opportunity to sit back and watch His perfect hand at work in the lives of the people in Texas.

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