As you may have heard we had unusually cold and icy weather here for the past week or so. Trees and wires are coated with ice. Roads are hazardous. Whereas Ohio’s Franklin County has a fleet of snowplows, Texas’s Williamson County has none. Anyway, here’s the story. Or, at least, the prologue to the story.
Very early Saturday morning (2/13) we lost our power—something of a problem in an all-electric house.
A little later, Pat called David and Kelly to tell them we had lost our power and they asked if there was anything they could do. David specifically asked if we needed coffee—important to his morning ritual. I told them we were okay and not to worry. Anyway, about 8:30 an Uber driver left a 12-cup carafe of Starbucks at our door. (We had restored power by that time.)
I quickly had a cup and texted a thank you to David and Kelly. About three hours later David called to say he had just seen the text and that they hadn’t sent any coffee. Somewhere in the neighborhood someone went without their morning coffee. I hope the deprived souls managed without their morning boost. There remains no clue who was supposed to receive the coffee.
Sunday was fine, although there were ominous warnings of bad weather to come. Sure enough, about 3:00 Monday morning we lost our power. Come dawn we had six to eight inches of snow. And our snow shovel was safely back in Ohio.
Although, we were promised the power would soon be restored, we were without electricity until Thursday noon.
Outside, temperatures dropped to single digits on some days. Inside, it grew colder and colder, in the upper thirties at one point. We wore layers. We had tuna and peanut butter, occasionally indulging in M&Ms, things we could eat without a stove. It was too icy to drive and the grocery stores were closed anyway. During this time, we read (using the dwindling power of our iPhones) about a homeless woman in Austin who gave birth outside and was found trying to keep the newborn warm in a sleeping bag. We will keep complaining about the situation, but we will try to keep perspective.
When there was no electricity to power the pumping stations, many lost their water, along with their electricity. Some with water (but no power) were told to boil their water. No stove, no problem—just use your camp stove. I’m glad we never received a boil order. Since my idea of “roughin’ it” means turning the electric blanket down to three, we don’t have a camp stove.
At one point we drained the power from this very laptop to charge a phone. We hoped for an update, only to hear how Bette Midler suggested God was punishing Texas for Ted Cruz. Apparently, people love to hate Texas—I knew that before our sojourn in Ohio and now that we’ve moved back, I see it’s still true. This, though the road from the Golden State to the Lone Star State seems to be far more crowded one direction than the other. But I digress.
Still, I hope some out there hear stories like this.
Hear how some Austin restaurants gave away free food during the crisis.
Hear how one couple put out the word on the neighborhood blog that if anyone without water would put empty jugs on their porch, they would fill them and put them back on the porch while they waited in their cars. Thus, helping neighbors while maintaining safe distancing.
Hear about the EMT who came off a 24-hour shift and began shoveling snow from his older neighbors’ driveways.
Hear how Christians from all over the nation and every place on the political spectrum were praying for Texas. We thank God and those who braved the cold to fix broken lines that our lights came on yesterday.
I’m sure we will hear about more of these heroes. Now, these folks who gave away food, water, and time didn’t ask if those they were helping were Democrat or Republican. They just knew a neighbor needed help and that they could give that help. Seems like a good way to live; but maybe I’m naïve.
There were times during the past four days I found myself saying, “Hey, let’s get the power on, then start pointing fingers.” Made sense to me, but maybe that’s further evidence of chronic naïveté.
As a pastor I’ve spent years fighting the nonsense behind Bette Midler’s remarks. Funny, how someone saying “Katrina was God’s punishment for gay marriage” is a bigot; but a Hollywood type saying “God was punishing Texas for Ted Cruz” is clever. I pastored in Texas for years, I know its people are both admirable and flawed.
So, I will respond to Midler and her gang by citing the words spoken by the great Jack Nicholson in As Good as It Gets: “Sell crazy someplace else. We're all stocked up here.”
