Recording flooding occurred in Elkhart County, Ind., a few weeks ago. Grace Community Church, a Charis Fellowship congregation (Jim Brown, senior pastor) in Goshen, Ind., led the way in helping people in their community who were impacted by the rising waters. One family was the Frymans, who attend Grace Community Church and are involved in various ministries there. Bridget, a columnist for the Goshen News, wrote about the experience this week. A portion of the column appears below. Click here to read the complete article. Bridget also is the operations assistant at GraceConnect and BMH Books.
ALONG FOR THE RIDE: Church, friends stream in to help flooded home
Never doubt there are angels among us.
Like too many people in this area, we haven’t had a great few weeks. I didn’t pay much attention to the weather forecast for Feb. 19 and 20. Warmer weather? Yay. And I moved on with my day. Rain? No biggie.
That Tuesday morning, I woke up to find the creek that normally runs at the back of our property running through our backyard. The kids’ sand toys (that were supposed to be put away back in October) were in danger of floating away if the water rose any higher, so I asked them to gather them up. I took a video and posted it to Facebook, thankful that the water seemed to only be in our yard and in no danger of reaching our house.
Fast forward to lunchtime and the entire playset area was underwater. I took some pictures and texted the hubby to see when I needed to panic. When I went to the basement to check that the drains in our egress windows weren’t clogged with leaves, I got more than I bargained for. About eight steps in, my foot went squish. Yup, now would be the time to panic.
Since I was already on the phone with him, Craig said he’d be on his way home immediately. Without even thinking, I called a friend who lives two miles away and asked her to help. I told her she could leave whenever she needed to, because I wouldn’t be alone for long. She ended up staying for more than two hours, dutifully carrying box after box upstairs despite her bad knees and a massage appointment she chose to cancel.
At some point in our frantic assessment of the initial inch of water that was continuing to rise, Craig said to post on social media that we needed help — more pumps and hoses. Even after one friend showed up with two, the water was still rising. Our pastor heard of our plight and posted in two Grace Community Church Facebook groups that if anyone could get to New Paris, please do, because the Frymans needed help.
Click here to read the complete article.