Everyday a Hurricane

Hi everybody!

The nation has Hurricane Harvey fever right now as we all watch our friends and family in Texas face this incredible storm. The devastation is stunning and I know us Becks are having trouble peeling our eyes away from the news coverage primarily because we are so familiar with the areas that are effected and are concerned for the people we care about who are in the middle of it.

For those of you who may be reading this from Galveston/Houston know that we are actively praying for these rains to stop and for flood waters to recede quickly. We are also asking how we might be most helpful to the recovery process once that gets underway. One thing is for sure…Texas will not recover alone. I am certain of it.

For those of us at a distance I thought it might be a good time to repost a poem I wrote a few months back. I was inspired to write it after reading some great counsel about how to best consider terrorist attacks without losing your mind with fear. Its so hard to see news coverage after attacks and hurricanes and be stuck in the “in betweenness” of it all. We’re not necessarily there to experience the devastation of it all first hand but we’re stuck watching it from a distance, feeling helpless.

Well the writer of the article I read said that the reality is people in our very neighborhoods and cities experience personal hurricanes and terrorist attacks everyday. Everday, someone gets a cancer diagnosis or in a car wreck. Aging parents need care or children are bullied at school. Mr. Rogers said it best when he described how his mother helped him digest difficult news: “Look for the helpers,” she told him. This has been the best advice as I’ve watched the news coverage and seen countless men and women in boats working to rescue folks in Texas. Its also helpful as I watch from a distance and realize that while I can’t go help an emergency crew right now I can head to my neighbors house and ask how I can lighten her load while she battles severe morning sickness. Be encouraged friends. There’s always something we can do to make the world a little lighter and always someone who can lend a helping hand. Lets all dig in and give where we can both in Houston and at home.

Everyday a Hurricane

By Courtney Beck

After the Hurricane hit New Orleans

I went to Jazz City to see what could be done

Hundreds gathered early one morning

Rallying for orders and direction.

Our leader took to a makeshift metal stage

An open top, turned upside down,

Elevating him above the crowd.

He shouted from his belly

That Jazz city would rise again because

Lumber and nails could join together

Via voluntary hands

The crowd shook off their slumber

As his cadence quickened into

shouts of togetherness. Excitement

filled the air in audible crescendo

as my neighbor; a German native

cheered and laughed from her guts.

“Oh how wonderful!” She exclaimed.

“This is all so incredibly AMERICAN!”

A hurricane hit my neighbor’s house last night.

His father just passed away.

There’s no day, quite like this day

To be an American.