Emergency! Disaster!

Here’s a rundown of my schedule the past three days:

6:30 AM– Get up to brew a cambro full of coffee (first time I’ve ever made coffee, but was told several times – unsolicited – that it was good. I hope so) and load our EDS canteen.

8:00 AM– Depart on a traffic filled journey to Jersey.

9:30 AM– Arrive in Bound Brook, NJ, a town that was badly flooded during a recent storm. Jersey EDS called GNY for extra help on this one, so we got called into duty Thursday and Friday, and eventually Saturday as well.

9:31 AM-7:30 PM – Serve sandwiches, snacks, the aforementioned coffee, water and Gatorade to policemen, firefighters, and utility workers trying to clean up the area and restore electricity. The residents had evacuated, but by Friday and Saturday they were back in force to clean out their homes and businesses.

8:00 PM – Depart for home.

9:00 PM – Arrive back at the corps, unload, clean up

10:00 PM – Get some rest and get ready to do it again.

When I got the call Wednesday night, I was not looking forward to taking care of all this. For one, I was already tired. For another, I needed to find someone to go with me, and all the usual suspects were away or otherwise unavailable.

But then John, one of our soldiers, called me late Wednesday night and told me he’d gotten the two days off from work and could come with me. We went and were blessed by the opportunity to serve and by the fellowship we shared together. Despite being physically tired we both readily accepted the opportunity to return yesterday, and although John had to back out because of a family commitment, I thank God for the chance to be used to serve others.

But I’m definitely sleeping in tomorrow.