In the midst of the chaos around me, I was reminded of my own personal reasons for coming to the shelter:

It was during Hurricane Ivan, September of 2004… my family and I were packing to go to a shelter when I was, suddenly, strongly impressed in my spirit to take a small carving knife along. I did not understand why. I had no use for a knife. But, I knew in my spirit it was what God wanted me to do. So, I did.

Soon after my family and I had settled on one of the hallways at the shelter, an elderly man who looked to be in his 80’s sat next to us in a chair. He was alone. I began noticing that the man never moved out of his chair to go to the cafeteria for lunch or dinner. I soon learned that he had a health problem and could not stand in the long lines. Realizing this, a friend and I offered to stand in the lines for him and bring his meals to him. The man said, “Thanks; but I’ll be fine.” I sensed that he did not want to be too much of a bother to anyone. He had some chips that he munched on every once in a while.

Later that evening, I reached to get something out of a plastic container and I saw the carving knife. I moved it out of the way. The old man saw the carving knife and asked if he could use it. “Of course.” I replied. He then pulled out a bag of apples and some cucumbers.

“I’ve been wanting to eat my apples and cucumbers,” He said, “but I forgot to bring my knife from home.” I let him keep the knife during the entire stay at the shelter. On the following day, when everyone was released to go home, he gave the knife back to me.

In the early morning hours, while nearly everyone was asleep, I looked up and saw the ambulance attendants roll a dead body down the hallway on a stretcher, as his head was covered, and took him out of the building. No, it was not the elderly man who had sat next to me. I later learned it was an elderly man from a different side of the building.

Later that morning, everyone was released to go home. The staff urged everyone in the shelter who was waiting for a ride to get their belongings and move to the front of the building. My family and I hurriedly loaded our belongings into the car. We were anxious to get back to our homes to see if we had escaped Hurricane Ivan’s fury.

While I was gathering my belongings, I heard one of the staff yell for the third time, in a more urgent voice for everyone to get their belongings and move to the front of the building. I looked up and saw a lady who looked to be in her early 30’s in distress. I heard her tell one of the staff that her brother had not returned to help her move her father. Her father looked to be in his 90’s. He appeared to have been recovering from a stroke. The staff said she would send someone to help her; but they never came, which was even more stressful for the lady. I walked over to her and assured her that I would return to help her as soon as I had finished putting my bags in my car.

It was a struggle moving her father from the bed to the wheelchair; but, thank God! We did it! We moved him and his belongings to the front of the building. However, we still faced another challenge. Her father needed some medical attention and neither of us knew how to help him. (To be continued in my next article.)