Crisis-trained chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team deployed to Houston, Texas, after record-setting deadly flooding inundated the area recently. The chaplains are praying and serving alongside Samaritan’s Purse volunteers during the deployment.
Approximately 20 inches of rain fell on the Houston area overnight within a 12-hour period, surprising many residents. “The waters backed up and the homes got flooded and it came on pretty quick,” said chaplain Ray Thompson. “It wasn’t what the people were anticipating.”
Weathering a flood is hard from an emotional standpoint because a lot of times many personal items are ruined by the water and therefore have to be thrown away. “Knowing that everything has to go [is hard],” chaplain Michael Glassey said. “Personal possessions, pictures, albums—the personal things that you're trying to save but can't because of the nature of the disaster.”
Chaplains met with homeowners and even prayed with some in the wake of great personal loss. “The losses are significant,” said chaplain Strib Boynton (pictured above left). “There’s a great deal of despair, but there’s also a great deal of hope. Hope that the people have in Jesus Christ that there is a better day coming. It’s not here right now, but they all know it’s on the immediate horizon.”
Chaplain Tim Dishong, pictured right, echoed the sentiment that so many residents were caught off guard by the flooding. “[The water] rose so quickly in the middle of the night that they got caught in their beds; getting out of their beds with their feet in the water. They could use your prayers so please join us in praying for these people, lifting them up, and praying for the volunteers here that they would be the hands and feet of Jesus.”
Chaplain Strib Boynton listens as a homeowner shares his story.
“None of us knows what tomorrow brings,” chaplain Ray Thompson said, referring to how these residents’ lives were changed literally overnight. “We don’t know why these things happen, and we [as chaplains] just kind of give them the Word to lean on and to rest and to be assured on; that a Rock is with us at all times.”
