By:Curtis Morton
The way I see it, crisis situations can bring out the best and the worst in us as human beings.
God steered hurricanes Irma and Jose away from us, no matter what some may want to believe otherwise, but some other islands were not so blessed and some were heavily impacted by the ravaging rains and wind—only God knows why he allowed that to happen.
Some of the videos and pictures coming out of some of those islands are truly alarming.
Over in St. Maarten, live videos were posted which showed people looting stores and supermarkets bold facedly.
In Florida, videos showed cars pulling up by a shoe store and persons disembarking and entering the store and coming out with boxes of shoes. I wonder if they got the right sizes?
Well I newa!
On the funny side, I also saw a video of a man, using his mop and mop bucket as if he was mopping up the raging flood on a nearby street.
A report coming out of Tortola is indicating that some persons have used the cover of the storm damage and current impasse, to not only loot but rape helpless females.
However, on the other hand, the people of Nevis, have once again come forward to show that they are generally kind hearted and generous.
You know how many box loads of breadfruit, pears, water and other stuff, have been boated off to the good folks in Anguilla and St. Maarten?
Well I newa!
Thank God for individuals and institutions who seek to serve rather than to always be served.
Basically, that is how the God who spared us, wants us to live.
A servant life style—seeking always to help others and not to be just putting out our hands, asking for something.
We never know when our turn will come.
For those of you who are older. I am sure you remember well what transpired after Hurricane Hugo hit us?
For many weeks, we were out of electricity and water was limited.
Many countries and individuals came to our aid. We received galvanize and other housing materials.
I ate MOTS until I got fed up. I had never seen the thing before, but we got a fair supply of MOTS.
ADRA (the Adventist Relief Agency) sent in a whole lot of building materials from Canada. I vaguely remember that the man coordinating the operation from the Canada end was a Mr. Redman (but he was a white man).
On the ground here in Nevis, was the indomitable Phinehas Griffin of blessed memory and I was his second.
We had access to a powerful white pickup truck. Oh it was a beut!
When I pressed down on the X, that thing could fly.
So, we were responsible, with guidance from government, to assess damages to residences across the island and to deliver the necessary supplies for rebuilding.
By the way, volunteer workers came in from the USA and Trinidad to assist with the rebuilding efforts.
Genially, this went well but one afternoon, as we were delivering some materials in a village (which will not be mentioned for the purposes of this class), a gentleman approached us with some urgency.
He told us that he needed some materials urgently and that he heard we were giving out materials. At the same time, we had some stuff to be delivered to several houses in the village.
He asked if he could get some of them and Mr. Griffin indicated that they were already ‘parceled out’ and that we will return another day to assess the damage to his house.
‘House!’ he exclaimed. ‘I did not say anything about house. I need the stuff to repair my sheep pen!’
Well I newa!
On a good note, that truck also came in very handy, as the regular garbage truck broke down, with all of the extra cleanup work after Hugo and on several occasions, I got permission to use it to clean the Gingerland area, along with the hard working Merrit Boddie (also of blessed memory) and some of the other guys in the Sanitary gang under my care at the time.
So, folks we have got to learn that once we trust God, he will supply ALL of our needs. We just need to do our best and trust God to do the rest.
My grandmother used to say-‘we must larn to SATIFY.’
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?