The Refrigerator
 “I lift up my eyes to the hills– where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1 NIV).
August 29, 2005 is a day that will live in infamy to much of the Gulf Coast (to paraphrase President Roosevelt). Hurricane Katrina devastated the lives of thousands of residents along the Gulf Coast. As we arrived in Gulfport, MS, 11 months later, the destruction was everywhere. When we went to work, we realized that each family had their own story about the hurricane. Where they were. How they survived. When they returned. What they lost. This is the story of Gail and Harry.
Gail and Harry live in one of the infamous FEMA trailers. For months, they have lived in a cramped space with two adults and two adult sons, one who was autistic. Volunteers are slowly repairing their home.
On the surface, they may be doing well. They go to work. They take care of their home. They are doing their best to live life after Katrina.
An unexpected sign of the devastation of Katrina literally lived in their refrigerator. For two weeks after August 29, 2005, they had no electricity. After they received their FEMA trailer, they ran an extension cord into their house, which had been disconnected from electricity, and plugged in their refrigerator. They didn’t open it. They didn’t throw away the food. They plugged it in and left it for eleven months.
We have all kinds of judgments that go with this. Why wouldn’t they just empty the refrigerator? Isn’t it their responsibility to clean it out? What kind of people are they that would just leave it for eleven months. Please suspend those judgements. Realize that this was a symptom of the despair that Harry and Gail were feeling. Their whole lives were beyond their control. With each passing day, they knew that inside their refrigerator things were growing. The longer they waited, the more they needed to avoid the truth that existed in it. That is the way with despair.
When our group arrived, Gail asked one of our group to help her clean out the refrigerator. For eleven months, Gail had successfully ignored the refrigerator. Why did she choose this time? Gail’s response, “Because I need to clean this out.” Together, they opened the door and began the process of throwing away all that was growing in it. Together, they scrubbed and disinfected the refrigerator. Afterwards, they plugged it back in and amazingly, it worked. Together they had conquered this little piece of despair and helped Gail move forward.
We all have our refrigerators: those parts of our lives that feel so beyond our control. As we try to shove it to the back of our minds, we know that something awful is growing deep in that corner. The longer we ignore it, the worse it grows and the stronger our resistance to opening the door grows.
Hopefully, God will send someone to help open the door. Hopefully, we can get beyond our embarrassment, shame, and despair and allow someone to help us scrape out those dark corners of our lives.
Prayer: Lord, send that person who will gently help me clean out the dark parts of my life. Send someone who comes without judgment or condemnation. Amen.
Mike Oldham
Ministry and Mission Coach
Western Slope and
Southeast Colorado/NM Clusters |
 |
-Read past thoughts-
|
