Surviving Dorian
The Day The Storm Hit
For over fifty years Abaco has been my home. I was born and raised in the island, established a church here, a thriving one, and for twenty three years pastored a congregation of almost 200 members. My wife, three sons and one granddaughter all resided in the peaceful settlement of Central Pines Estate, but soon that peaceful settlement would be turned into something I could barely recognize.
On Friday, August 30th, 2019, after watching the weather channel, and confirming that Abaco was in the direct path of the oncoming hurricane Dorian, that would hit Abaco as a category four, possibly five, I spent the next two days preparing to secure my home, the home of my two sons, (one of which was just newly constructed and not yet occupied), the church, two church apartment buildings, and with the assistance of male parishioners, the home of members that needed assistance. Food, along with the other necessary items that we needed were purchased by Saturday evening, and by early Sunday morning, I checked in with church members via WhatsApp on our church chat group, offered prayers and confirmed that everyone was ready to ride out this storm, like we had done so many others.
Sunday morning at around 10:30am as my wife is preparing dinner, we were made aware that this storm would be different, as the first shutter was ripped from our upstairs landing window, the glass was broken, and rainwater began pouring in. As I summoned my sons to assist in trying to fix this problem, the railings from around my back porch, were ripped off, shutters came of my bedroom window, and from there everything went downhill, the house was now compromised, we knew it was no longer safe there. While waiting for a break for the winds, that would now be at least two hundred miles per hour, to subside we are joined by my parents and seven other family members that lived less than five minutes away from us, that came to us for refuge after losing the roof off their home.
Battling Dorian
We kicked into survival mode, and thought our best course of action would be to make a dash to our church building for shelter which was less than a mile from our home. With twelve persons in one van, and five family members in another vehicle we made our way to the church and a drive that would take us five minutes, took at least twenty five minutes (which seemed like an eternity), through the street filled with poles, mangled wires and debris, we made it to the church and discovered that this building too had already felt the force of mother nature as it had already lost its front window, door, and portions of our upstairs administration area roof. We thought where else could we find a secure shelter on the island, if our church was damaged, surely everywhere else was damaged, so we made a plan to settle in the area that was not yet compromised.
By now it’s about two pm on Sunday afternoon, and we had already gone through this nightmare of an experience, we tried as best to settle, thinking, in a few hours, this would be over, not knowing that the worse was yet to come. Fast forward a few hours later, we were in a do or die situation as the tail end of the storm rips through our building, taking out the back concrete wall, a side door, and our sanctuary roof. As we ran for cover, my son was sucked out of the building by the strong wind, and for about two hours we thought we might have lost him, but found out he had taken refuge on the back of a truck that was parked at the entrance of the church. By this time we had about two hundred persons that had came to the church to seek refuge after loosing the roof at the school building. For two nights I along with six family members spent our time in a small room in our church lobby, with rain leaking in, the water around our ankles, and the tormenting sound of steel and metal banging, threatening to bring down this last portion of roof over our heads. By Gods grace this small portion of roof held up, and on Tuesday, I moved my family to our leaking garage where we spent another two nights before being evacuated into Nassau.
This experience that we never expected, nor could of been prepared for, left our Island desecrated, and has been most traumatizing for the people of Abaco. Even though the physical storm is over, there is the aftermath of emotional turbulence of fear, anxiety, hopelessness, grief, and uncertainty that we have to deal with, especially in the capacity of a leader, who must take on the added burdens of his parishioners. I pray for others, encourage others, even though I need prayer and encouraging because I have lost all my earthly possessions and investments, and all I had and continue to have is my faith in the word of God that He’s able to do it again.
Looking To The Future…
Moving forward personally, and for the ministry, the plan is to rebuild. Better, Wiser, and Stronger. Not only to rebuild our Island and personal possessions, but to build people and strengthen relationships, with God and each other. Today I reflect on the bible passage in James 4:14 “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears that for a little time, then vanisheth away”. This experience has made me even more aware that every soul needs a Savior. I continue to live in His will, and His will is that none should perish, but that all shall have eternal life. My mandate is even more urgent in presenting Jesus to the masses.
To those that have survived this storm, know that you survived for the purpose of God for your life to be completed in the earth. You made it out of the storm, you can make it after the storm. Let’s “reset our mind”. Two most powerful things that impact our lives is our thoughts, (the way we think), and our words (what we say). The Apostle Paul challenges us at the beginning of Romans 12 to not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. If we reset our minds and believe that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, then we are already halfway there. Marcus Aurelius declared that “the happiness of our life’s depends on the quality of our thoughts” Don’t think on the negative, think on the positive. Secondly, let’s “create our world with our words”. Proverbs 18:20-21 it reads, “A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it (speaking death or life), shall eat the fruit thereof”. You choose, and in choosing I pray that you choose “LIFE”; the abundant one that God wants us all to live.