flood of 2008 - giving out water

Haven't posted in a while been busy giving water away. FEMA set up two water distribution location here in Cedar Rapids and NCBC was asked by Serve the City to run one of them. Here are a few thoughts I had:
1) It has been very exciting to watch so many people from NCBC and other people from Cedar Rapids come out and volunteer.
2) It is more dangerest than I thought to do this
3) A lot of people came to get water for other people who couldn't come to get water themselves
4) Unfortunately, there are people who are taking this water & selling to make a profit
5) The stories people are sharing about what happen to them is overwhelming - Lord pls work

If you click on the picture you can see a slideshow made by Kim Pagel (One of the Pastors at NCBC)

flood of 2008 - Cedar Rapids update

New information about what happened here at Cedar Rapids is out. KCRG reported about it here.

Here is a little bit of it (very saddening):

"Cedar Rapids Fire Chief Dave Koch says 1300 city blocks have been affected by flood waters. He estimates total property value in the city affected by flooding at nearly 737 million dollars. Of that, 375 million dollars is residential property."

Lord, we can trust you - help us trust you.

"Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! (Mark 9:24 NIV)"

FLOOD OF 2008 - in East Iowa

My good frend and jr hi youth pastor at Parkview Church in Iowa City Nile Heefner has had his whole church submerged in the flood. You can go here to their web site to see pics of what is happening to it. I know many people are effected by this flood but this one is my first really big hit. Please pray for us and pray for my friend Nile and Parkview Church.

what we did to day for the flood of 2008 in Cedar Rapids, IA

Well today was a day where we really got a chance to help. Mark Forstrom, Lauren Darr (our intern), Austin Spooner, and I went to the local 211 United Way information center to man phones for about 8 hours. It was very encouraging how many people wanted to help and donate to the flood victims. One of the hard calls I got was a lady who is on vacation and found out about the flood. She asked about her home and I sadly told her that her home was in the evacuation area. She cried on the phone and that was all I heard from her. I sure hope that when she gets home she will find a home to come to. The Lord is teaching me some things:

1) I must rely on Him - because there is no other place to turn to as it should be
2) There are ways to help and you have to keep looking for them
3) Praying for wisdom and endurance is a very smart thing to do

PS - the picture is of Lauren answering the phone for United Way

FLOOD OF 2008 - in Cedar Rapids, IA

To say that we have more water than I have ever seen (besides an ocean) would be an understatement. There is so much water here and there are so many people who have been affected by this flood that I even hesitate to blog about it. There are much better bloggers and reporters out their than me but I did want to at least put down some of my thoughts:

1) I thought that this was going to be series but nothing like what it is ever came to my mind. 2) The real work hasn't even begun.

3) I believe with all my heart that God has something plan that will blow everyone away because of this.

4) Please pray and help when and where you can - there is a lot that will have to happen

5) CR will never be the same and down town will physically change like never before.

I put a couple pictures on flicker if you want to see what I’ve seen (just click on the pic). These are pictures before the waters really got bad. The office picture is from our youth office here at NCBC that got water from all the rain we are having not the flood. It's our intern Lauren Darr from Huntington University and a friend of her's helping out. There is a lot more that can been seen by looking at the KCRG web site (one of our local TV stations).