1. Live simply. Everything...literally EVERYTHING-cars, furniture, fancy TV sets, expensive clothes, gadgets was useless and ended up as junk after the flood. The less you have, the less you have to lose. Not to mention the easier the cleaning job afterward. If I ever have a house in this world- I'll only have one set of plates and cups (I'll get paper plates for parties) and minimal furniture. Accumulating wealth is just NOT WORTH IT. All your years of work and saving gone in a single night.
2. Don't look back. Many of those who lost their lives had already left but returned for some reason. Some to make sure the house was locked, others to get some valuable they forgot. When disaster strikes, forget about everything else and just escape with whatever you have on. No life is worth whatever valuables that were saved.
3. Listen and Obey. Sadly, the story of the 3 witnesses who lost their lives goes that they were warned many times, even visited by brothers to tell them to leave but they failed to heed their warning. Before they knew it, the water was too high and they had no way out. They were found inside their house-dead.
4. Pray and Pray. It's amazing how all the brothers who survived said that they didn't cry, they just PRAYED and PRAYED. That's what gave them a calm mind to think of a way out-that's what saved their lives. While others were panicking, they were praying. Some stories are 'unbelievable'. You'd never think of doing such things but they did simply because they prayed.:)
5. Jehovah provides abundantly. Many of the brothers who survived escaped only with their lives. No house, NOTHING. In the beginning, we were wondering how we could take care of all these brothers. We'd already used whatever funds we had and provided for a day or so but what then? Jehovah's hand is not short, in fact this is an understatement.
When relief goods started pouring in, there were times we thought it was the last truck, container van but brothers just kept on sending! Up to now, we have no idea what to do with the clothes that arrived-all the brothers have already probably changed their wardrobe and we still have tons of clothes! Rice? Maybe 20 sacks or more...noodles and cans? Boxes and boxes..the relief center couldn't take all the goods-we now have a '2nd center'!
5. Love abounds. We are not the only organization that had relief operations. In fact, almost everyone I know in the city was involved in some sort of relief. The only thing that sets us apart is LOVE. We take the food, water, clothing to the brothers homes while they pass it out on the streets. We wade in knee deep mud just to help cleaning their houses while they shake their heads and take pictures. These are things only Jehovah's organization does. Brothers had tears in their eyes whenever the goods were delivered- Jehovah was providing for them daily. Neighbors looked on and admired the love ONLY we show.
6.The end is near. In the public talk last week, Jesus words in Luke 21:31 was emphasized. "When you SEE these things ...KNOW the kingdom of God is NEAR". I've heard it on the news, seen it on TV, read it in the paper but actually SEEING it is some kind of a 'jolt'. The end is indeed extremely near. It's nearer than we think. Meaning? Personally, I realized there is really no time to 'worry' about things like love, marriage etc. Whatever happens, happens and weather we are ready for it or not, events are in motion leading to the end of this world.
7. What really matters. This was emphasized in the funeral talk of the 2 SP's. The speaker said that they had 'built a good name with Jehovah' and were 'safe in HIs memory'. How about me? Can I safely say that If I die I will be 'safe in Jehovah's memory'? Well, it's double time in building that name for me now:)
8.Power beyond normal. There is definitely no way any of us could have done what we did without extraordinary strength. At times I wondered if I would be able to wake up to another day of relief operations, I felt my body 'giving up'. I wondered how our brothers could still have the strength to do their talks and conduct the meetings. But amazingly, all of us stayed fit enough to continue, all of us somehow had strength for the day.We just joked that 'we were running on the power of the Holy spirit' because our physical bodies were overworked and there is nothing else that could have kept us going for so long.
Well, nobody should have to experience what we did to realize these lessons. If there's a good side to being able to, it would be drawing closer to Jehovah and his organization, realizing how crucial our times are and how close we are to eternal relief=)
No comments:
Post a Comment