Austin Area Fires

On Tuesday, September 13, a team of four from FBC Allen delivered relief supplies to the Austin area fire victims.  FBC Allen in just a few days graciously collected over $5000 worth of Wal-Mart cards and essential living items such as bedding items, toiletries and underwear for these folks in the Austin area who had lost so much.

 As of today, over 1700 homes have been destroyed.  Yet with great tragedy has come a great effort from the Christian community as Austin area churches are taking the lead in providing relief.  We were advised to connect with the Austin Disaster Relief Network (www.austindisasterreliefnetwork.org )  where most of the Austin churches are connecting their volunteers and efforts through.

ADRN has taken over an abandoned grocery store in Georgetown, TX and has turned it into a collection center for new items and gift cards that are being delievered to fire victims.  Derick Zwenneman is the Outreach Director at Celebration Church in Austin, and he is one of the key leaders in this particular collection center organizing not only lots of donations but hundreds of volunteers as well.  I encourage you to pray for Derick, and if you want to pour some encouragement into a life that is pouring out so much for others right now, take time to send him an email at dzwerneman@celebrationchurchtx.com.

We spent some time helping unpack all the donated items and put them in their appropriate boxes before we had to head back to Allen.  As I would pull out items FBC Allen had donated, I thought about moms who took their kids to the store this past weekend and let them pick out cartoon covered underwear and socks for someone’s kid who had lost everything… I unpacked bags from department stores where I could tell someone wanted to purchase some nicer undergarments for a woman they didn’t know their name but wanted them to have something nice to wear… and I thought about the notes that were written to the victims that said “We love you” and “We are praying for you.”  I was proud to be from FBC Allen and proud for what God lets us do in Allen, in Texas, in the US, and all over the world.

I also thought about the people who lost everything and am praying that God will not only help them get back on their feet but even more that God will use all the underwear, socks, pillows and gift cards to connect these victims to Jesus Christ and his great love for them.  As I was unpacking the relief bags and thinking all these things, I was doing a great job fighting back tears of joy and pain until the words to this song came on the radio that was playing music for the relief workers… thats when I lost it…  the song is by Laura Story and called Blessings in Disguise and the chorus goes like this…

WHAT IF YOUR BLESSINGS COME THROUGH RAINDROPS

WHAT IF YOUR HEALING COMES THROUGH TEARS

WHAT IF A THOUSAND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS IS WHAT IT TAKES TO KNOW YOU’RE REAL

WHAT IF TRIALS OF THIS LIFE ARE YOUR MERCIES IN DISGUISE

Pray for the fire victims…

Pray for Austin Disaster Relief Network (and donate there if you can)

Pray for Derick Zwerneman and those volunteering

Pray for God to prove once again that He can exchange beauty for ashes

Derick and our team (he is the young buck)

supplies gathered so far

preparing boxes for packing