"Be strong and courageous. Don't tremble! Don't be afraid of them! The LORD your God is the one who is going with you. He won't abandon you or leave you." Deuteronomy 31:6 from the GOD'S WORD translation

Update: Praise God from whom all blessings flow. As of late yesterday afternoon, we do have power and it was still on this morning when I left the house. Earlier in the day, a young couple in our neighborhood brought a brand new generator for us to use. We thank God for their generosity. This was a wonderful help to our Jimmy who needed some cool air as he is recovering from a recent knee surgery. Jimmy has been our go to person throughout the storm watch and the aftermath. He has helped me immensely to get to where we are today and I am so thankful he was there with me. Now, things are somewhat akin to my recollection of what normal is, although, as you can testify, my idea of normal is not always consistent with reality, or something like that.

Good morning. It's Friday, September 1, 2017. So much has happened during these storm related days. Our grandchildren, Jimmy Jr., Alesha, Amanda, and Alex, lost their mom's dad, their grandpa, during the height of the storm. He had been ailing for some time and while his passing was not a huge surprise, it was still unexpected. It is a sad time for them and we pray God's comfort to all those who are mourning this loss. Loss is a part of what has happened as a result of this 1,000-year storm. When Hurricane Ike landed a huge pine tree in the top of our house we never expected for it to take nearly five months before we could get back into our home. Sadly, many throughout our state may have no home to get back to due to the total devastation associated with this event. Everyone in our circle knows someone who has been hit in a material way. We have dear friends who had several feet of water in their homes. Others have been evacuated to safety. Gut wrenching stuff. A number of years ago I laughed when the wife got hold of a little fan that runs off of 'D' cell batteries, 8 of them. I thought that was incredible. With our power out the past several days, may I just say that little fan has helped to save my sanity. I can't say I was cool, but, the little breeze and buzzing of that fan helped me to sleep, and, we all know how important sleep is to yours truly.

When it finally cleared enough for me to get out, okay, you guessed it, I was looking for 8 'D' cell batteries. This was early on Wednesday morning. Not too many folks were on the roadway. It struck me how clean the roads were out in our area. They were gleaming white in the bright sunshine, almost in an eerie way. I ended up at the big box store. Many of the shelves looked like they had been looted. However, I found what I was looking for. I can't even remember the last time I purchased any 'D' cell batteries. Maybe it was back when I was putting them in the boys' toys. When you are without electricity for several days you begin to hear all kinds of stories about when the power will be restored. Several times we thought restoration was imminent. The most recent was based on a supposed eyewitness account on Wednesday evening. The fellow told us the trucks were in our subdivision and taking the streets one by one. He had actually talked to them. They were a crew from Missouri. They could be on our street soon. They could. Really? Not so fast. Around 9 p.m., Jimmy, drove down to see for himself. Not a creature was stirring, not even one power repair truck. The show me state people didn't show me anything. When I came into work yesterday I think I may have met two or three other vehicles including a deputy shining one of those mega blinding lights checking things out. It was around 3:30 a.m. and I was very appreciative when the officer turned it off long enough for me to pass. Thank you very much.

I don't know of anything that gets us all stirred up like looting does. Anyone who would take advantage of the devastated and defenseless, well, they are, as Paw Paw Mac used to say, "As sorry as it gets." However, I did notice how the shoot first memes took off on Facebook. I'm not saying that lethal force should not be an option, but, I don't think it helps to make the killing of anyone something to be proud of. While I well understand the frustration involved, I just thought it all got a little out of hand. I know some of it was trying to warn would be thieves how they might want to reconsider, however, it became a 'can you top this claim?' scenario. I know our local policing authorities did give the order to shoot looters, if necessary. However, the several out in our area caught engaged in this type of behavior ended up being arrested. I was glad to hear our local district attorney say those caught looting would be prosecuted with the maximum penalty and not offered any plea bargaining, under any circumstances. That's my drive by assessment and some opinion thrown in for good measure. You know. Just me. Shooting from the hip. No pun intended. I may be here tomorrow helping to get things caught up. I haven't heard the word on that yet. I do hope things begin to get back to normal for everyone out there dealing with issues related to Harvey. And, that we all will find ourselves on this upcoming Lord's Day Sunday in the place of worship. See you next time and may God bless each one. Amen. ....More later.