Worshipping in the Dark

El Jefe and I went to worship at our church this morning. The church is located in one of the areas hardest hit by tree damage--and power outages.

Services were held in the Fellowship Hall. We were greeted by two loud generators in the parking lot powering a couple of large fans, a couple of portable video screens and a laptop. There was no printed worship bulletin or amplification. The pastors talked really loud and it was pretty dark, despite the fact that there is a wall of windows on one side of the hall. It was warm-ish, but not uncomfortably so.

There was a good crowd on hand. Most of those who live near the church are into their 10th day without power. That included the senior pastor. As you might expect, his sermon centered around "power issues." What if we yearned for the power of the Holy Spirit as much as we yearn for the power of electricity? he asked.

Later in the afternoon, Portia and DK went home and found their electricity had been restored. Yippeee! We sent them home this evening with clean clothes and a "care package" of perishable items to begin the restocking of their refrigerator.

Work crews came by our house this afternoon and picked up the mountain of bagged vegetation El Jefe and the boys placed in front for them. The big tree that feel on our fence is still there, but the neighbor says he has someone coming next week to remove it. That will take a big winch and rope to pull it away before it is cut up and hauled off.

I'm really sad about all the damage to Galveston. I grew up going there every summer and we took our girls there for vacations when they were little. We have lots of memories tied up in that place which is now struggling very hard. Please pray for all those whose recovery from Ike will take much more than the return of electricity.