Appointments are made by God in normal, typical, and in unusual ways. I enjoy God appointments that take me by surprise. One such appointment occurred not long ago when my wife and I strolled over to a bookstore after watching a movie.
I was in the history section, just browsing, and I noticed a table was set up along with some chairs, so I knew the area was probably used for book signings. In fact I heard the store pa system announcing a book signing would take place in 5 minutes.
I continued browsing when a tall, well polished man sat down at the table and a sharp and well dressed woman sat down in a chair on the other side of him.
A very pleasant "Hello, how are you?" greeted me from the man sitting at the table.
I went over and we all introduced ourselves. The man was the author of a book called "Walk in my Shoes-things happen to all of Us" and his name was Destry Dokes. It is a book about change, the worst kind, the change that is forced on us by events such as Hurricane Katrina.
As we talked I shared with him that I had been involved at Katrina, first as a shelter team leader/volunteer responder at the Baton Rouge River Center Shelter in Sept and Oct for Victim Relief Ministries and later as the Katrina Team Project Director for Victim Relief Ministries with operations in the Family Assistance Center in Baton Rouge and the 9th Ward Operations.
Further as Destry was sharing his passion for helping people he shared that he was from Lakewood Church in Houston that was also committed to responding to the needs of people in the community and wondered if I had heard of his church. (We were at a bookstore in Dallas)
I grinned and said- "victim Relief Ministries is working with Lakewood and we have nearly 100 trained volunteers from the church and have another training session coming up soon!"
We laughed at the way God moves to put people together!
I recommend you buy a copy of "Walking in my Shoes" and you can check out
www.destrydokes.com for more information.
As this blog is dedicated to "Ready to Respond" I will close with a quote from his book-
"Do not invest all your energy in the size and impact of your storm. Instead, address your storm, embrace the change and live your life."
Continuing to journey with you-
Edward
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Is The Power of Prayer- Linked to Calming the Storms?
In Mark 4:35-40 we find the story of Christ and His disciples deciding to cross the Sea of Galilee after a long day of teaching to the multitudes a group of small boats also went out alongside.
We probably all know the story. As Christ slept calmly on His pillow a raging storm struck that flooded the boat and rocked it so violently that the disciples were fearful of dying. They rushed to Jesus, woke Him up and is essence accused Him of not being worried about them.
With the power of His voice, Christ rebuked the wind and commanded it stop and ordered the sea to be calm. After they obeyed He rebuked His disciples who were in such awe of His power and said to each other- "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
Christ has power over nature and He showed that power when they cried out to him.
A few years ago Georgia and the southeast states were in the grips of a terrible drought. Gov. Sonny Perdue set a date for people to gather and pray for rain. On November 13, 2007 he stood on the steps of the capitol building along with 250 mayors, government officials and ministers and asked God to send the rain needed to end the drought.
Do you remember that, do you know what happened?
Well a skeptic website tracked the rainfall amount 48-days-before prayer and 48-days-following prayer. 2.485 inches fell before and 5.765 inches fell after. And increase of 132% In fact in June 2009 the state of Georgia declared the drought over and the entire southeast has been lifted out of the drought as well.
Coincident or God-incident?
The other day on the radio I heard tthat Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has been placing prayer requests to God in the wailing wall in Jerusalem since coming to term. It simply reads-"Dear God, please spare Florida of hurricanes and other problems, Charlie"
Now you can debate the power of a paper prayer but this fact remains. In the two years before being elected 8 hurricanes ripped Florida apart. And in the two years since- O!
Coincident or God-incident?
People can and will rationalize the power of prayer out of any equation. I stand on the side of faith and act on that faith in and through God through prayer.
Christ says from the scriptures- "Without me you can do nothing" and "To pray unceasingly".
I believe prayer has helped spare our nation great death and destruction. I believe prayer helped wobble Hurricane Katrina at the last second and that slight change kept Katrina from killings tens of thousands of persons. I believe prayer turned Hurricane Bill on a huge right hand turn that saved many lives and prevented billions of dollars in damages.
Is prayer linked to calming the storms? I believe so. I believe and trust in the God who walked on water, turned water into wine, gave physical and spiritual water to the woman at the well and can calm the storms that rage around us in many ways.
God is love and love is God! Peace and Blessings-
Edward
We probably all know the story. As Christ slept calmly on His pillow a raging storm struck that flooded the boat and rocked it so violently that the disciples were fearful of dying. They rushed to Jesus, woke Him up and is essence accused Him of not being worried about them.
With the power of His voice, Christ rebuked the wind and commanded it stop and ordered the sea to be calm. After they obeyed He rebuked His disciples who were in such awe of His power and said to each other- "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
Christ has power over nature and He showed that power when they cried out to him.
A few years ago Georgia and the southeast states were in the grips of a terrible drought. Gov. Sonny Perdue set a date for people to gather and pray for rain. On November 13, 2007 he stood on the steps of the capitol building along with 250 mayors, government officials and ministers and asked God to send the rain needed to end the drought.
Do you remember that, do you know what happened?
Well a skeptic website tracked the rainfall amount 48-days-before prayer and 48-days-following prayer. 2.485 inches fell before and 5.765 inches fell after. And increase of 132% In fact in June 2009 the state of Georgia declared the drought over and the entire southeast has been lifted out of the drought as well.
Coincident or God-incident?
The other day on the radio I heard tthat Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has been placing prayer requests to God in the wailing wall in Jerusalem since coming to term. It simply reads-"Dear God, please spare Florida of hurricanes and other problems, Charlie"
Now you can debate the power of a paper prayer but this fact remains. In the two years before being elected 8 hurricanes ripped Florida apart. And in the two years since- O!
Coincident or God-incident?
People can and will rationalize the power of prayer out of any equation. I stand on the side of faith and act on that faith in and through God through prayer.
Christ says from the scriptures- "Without me you can do nothing" and "To pray unceasingly".
I believe prayer has helped spare our nation great death and destruction. I believe prayer helped wobble Hurricane Katrina at the last second and that slight change kept Katrina from killings tens of thousands of persons. I believe prayer turned Hurricane Bill on a huge right hand turn that saved many lives and prevented billions of dollars in damages.
Is prayer linked to calming the storms? I believe so. I believe and trust in the God who walked on water, turned water into wine, gave physical and spiritual water to the woman at the well and can calm the storms that rage around us in many ways.
God is love and love is God! Peace and Blessings-
Edward
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Hope is Not A Plan- Dealing with H1N1
Dear Responders-
A lot is being made of and said about the pending re-emergence of the H1N1 influenza strain. Many people are saying too much is being made about it and others say the government agencies in the USA and around the world is putting too much into it.
Many people are just hoping nothing happens. Well as the title says- "Hope is not a Plan!"
Lets look at a few important facts. A pandemic occurs in the USA every 10-30 years. With the growth of international travel on board aircraft, which can serve as great incubators of viruses, the speed in which disease can spread is incredibly fast.
"Regular seasonal Flu" kills about 36,000 people a year in the USA and between 300,000-500,000 people around the world annually. But when the flu takes on new strains the death toll jumps. In the 20th century their were 4 major outbreaks-
1918 Spanish Flu
1957 Asian Flu
1968 Hong Kong Flu
1976 Swine Flu
The 1918 Spanish flu killed millions and returning soldiers from WWI were the main carriers of the flu virus back into the USA. It is estimated that more people died from this flu (over 40,000,000) than all the deaths that resulted from World War I!
Is there enough H1N1 vaccine for everyone- probably not. Do we panic- NO!
Just be aware of the main message that the health world is telling us- WASH YOUR HANDS constantly!
Carry hand sanitizers when away from soap and water. Cover your mouth when coughing and sneezing. Use paper towels to open bathroom doors and throw away the paper towels and napkins that you may be using. Cough into your own sleeve instead into the open air.
Also practice some "social distancing" techniques. In addition to those listed above, try not to shake hands, instead do the H1N1 "fist" and just bump fist to fist! Wave at each other! Wipe down phones. Stay home when sick! Don't be a martyr and show up at the office and send other people home sick!
So hope is not a plan. But sticking with common hygiene habits, some social distancing skills and common sense- and mix that in with prayer and you have a plan that gives great hope!
Keep on serving responders!
Edward
A lot is being made of and said about the pending re-emergence of the H1N1 influenza strain. Many people are saying too much is being made about it and others say the government agencies in the USA and around the world is putting too much into it.
Many people are just hoping nothing happens. Well as the title says- "Hope is not a Plan!"
Lets look at a few important facts. A pandemic occurs in the USA every 10-30 years. With the growth of international travel on board aircraft, which can serve as great incubators of viruses, the speed in which disease can spread is incredibly fast.
"Regular seasonal Flu" kills about 36,000 people a year in the USA and between 300,000-500,000 people around the world annually. But when the flu takes on new strains the death toll jumps. In the 20th century their were 4 major outbreaks-
1918 Spanish Flu
1957 Asian Flu
1968 Hong Kong Flu
1976 Swine Flu
The 1918 Spanish flu killed millions and returning soldiers from WWI were the main carriers of the flu virus back into the USA. It is estimated that more people died from this flu (over 40,000,000) than all the deaths that resulted from World War I!
Is there enough H1N1 vaccine for everyone- probably not. Do we panic- NO!
Just be aware of the main message that the health world is telling us- WASH YOUR HANDS constantly!
Carry hand sanitizers when away from soap and water. Cover your mouth when coughing and sneezing. Use paper towels to open bathroom doors and throw away the paper towels and napkins that you may be using. Cough into your own sleeve instead into the open air.
Also practice some "social distancing" techniques. In addition to those listed above, try not to shake hands, instead do the H1N1 "fist" and just bump fist to fist! Wave at each other! Wipe down phones. Stay home when sick! Don't be a martyr and show up at the office and send other people home sick!
So hope is not a plan. But sticking with common hygiene habits, some social distancing skills and common sense- and mix that in with prayer and you have a plan that gives great hope!
Keep on serving responders!
Edward
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Weathering the Storms of 2009- With a Spirit of Gratitude!
The Nation and the State of Texas recently jumped into a major state of alert as a string of tropical storms began making its way across the Atlantic and into the Caribbean and the first storm smacked into Florida. At VRM we went on ALERT and told task force teams, shelter teams and other response teams to be prepared for a possible deployment.
For a while Tropical Storm Anna was a threat that has hopefully faded into a depression (though there is one model that shows a chance for a revival into a hurricane when she passes into the gulf) and it looks like Hurricane Bill is making that big right hand turn to the north that will take him between Bermuda and the east coast of the USA and its a good thing Bill was spiking up to a CAT 4 but he will be more roar at sea than a roaring lion on land.
Thank you God and all who have diligently been praying for grace and mercy for the peoples of the Caribbean and North America.
I was reading some information from the weather channel that of May of 2008 there had been 113 people killed in the USA by tornadoes with the second highest total of tornadoes in history with over 1,691 that would strike for a total of 124 killed. By August of 2009 we have experienced 21 deaths from 9 super-sized killer tornadoes.
And of course 2008 saw a lot more storm and hurricane activity than we are seeing in 2009 and we had the horrific Hurricane IKE that ripped things apart from Galveston Island, through east Texas up through the Ohio River Valley and then out through the Atlantic and it seemed we were dodging Hurricanes every week from Dolly to Gustave to Eduard and so on.
So far, again Thank you God, we have been spared destruction and death on a massive scale from killer storms.
While I am grateful let us be diligent and continue to pray, we still do not know what storm surge will result from Hurricane Bill on our East Coast and in Bermuda. And late August and September are notorious for sending in huge Hurricanes.
Fortunately at VRM we did not have to deploy, but that does not mean we do not need to be prepared and ready to respond when the call comes.
As we thank God for calming the storms for the much part in 2009 take a look at a video I came across at U Tube called "Jesus Calms the Storm" using legos!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2N8aJOArbc
Are you ready to Respond...Impact and Serve on the Journey?
Edward Smith
For a while Tropical Storm Anna was a threat that has hopefully faded into a depression (though there is one model that shows a chance for a revival into a hurricane when she passes into the gulf) and it looks like Hurricane Bill is making that big right hand turn to the north that will take him between Bermuda and the east coast of the USA and its a good thing Bill was spiking up to a CAT 4 but he will be more roar at sea than a roaring lion on land.
Thank you God and all who have diligently been praying for grace and mercy for the peoples of the Caribbean and North America.
I was reading some information from the weather channel that of May of 2008 there had been 113 people killed in the USA by tornadoes with the second highest total of tornadoes in history with over 1,691 that would strike for a total of 124 killed. By August of 2009 we have experienced 21 deaths from 9 super-sized killer tornadoes.
And of course 2008 saw a lot more storm and hurricane activity than we are seeing in 2009 and we had the horrific Hurricane IKE that ripped things apart from Galveston Island, through east Texas up through the Ohio River Valley and then out through the Atlantic and it seemed we were dodging Hurricanes every week from Dolly to Gustave to Eduard and so on.
So far, again Thank you God, we have been spared destruction and death on a massive scale from killer storms.
While I am grateful let us be diligent and continue to pray, we still do not know what storm surge will result from Hurricane Bill on our East Coast and in Bermuda. And late August and September are notorious for sending in huge Hurricanes.
Fortunately at VRM we did not have to deploy, but that does not mean we do not need to be prepared and ready to respond when the call comes.
As we thank God for calming the storms for the much part in 2009 take a look at a video I came across at U Tube called "Jesus Calms the Storm" using legos!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2N8aJOArbc
Are you ready to Respond...Impact and Serve on the Journey?
Edward Smith
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Welcome- Are You Ready To Respond?
Welcome to Victim Relief Chaplains, Crisis Responders, Counselors and new Volunteers. And a big HELLO to Race Track Chaplaincy of America Chaplains, Council Members, Horsemen and all those from the "Thought of the Day" and other family and friends!
You have a new home to access to keep up with information in regards to disaster and emergency response, community preparedness, weather alerts, training insight, devotions, thoughts and spiritual and practical applications on many subjects.
There are several communication channels that are at your disposal, in addition to this blog make sure you store the following information for access:
email: edwardsmith@victimrelief.org and jethunter@aol.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/chaplainESmith
Twitter: twitter.com/ChaplainESmith
Blog: www.readytorespond.blogspot.com
Website: www.victimrelief.org
This is the 10th Anniversary of Victim Relief Ministries (VRM) and the celebration banquet will be held Thursday night November 5th in Dallas, Texas. And a special two day training conference will be held November 6-7th with an outstanding line up of speakers and trainers and musicians. But I will be talking about that awesome event in more detail at a later time.
The theme of the VRM Conference is Living Ready...Ready to Journey...Ready to Respond...Ready to Impact. And I want to focus for the moment on "Ready to Respond". In addition to being the VRM Deputy Executive Director I have responsibilities as Director of Disaster Response and Director of Training. So "Responding" is extremely important to me!
Being a Christian fits the principles of response to emergencies, and in helping victim survivors of disaster, crime and terrorism. It requires ACTION. We are commanded to be in ACTION!
We are to Love our Neighbor!
We are to Care for the widows and orphans!
We are to Carry the Good News to the Ends of the Earth!
We are to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty and sometimes to give our lives to defend others!
Pretty ACTION packed if you ask me.
But let me ask you. If a disaster happended at your school, your church, in your neighborhood, in your city, in your state or on a national scale- would you, or are you ready to respond? Do you have the desire, but don't have the means. Perhaps you are already VRM certified and trained on many levels- are you living "Ready to Respond?"
So this blog site will help us prepare to be the Good Samaritan in Action, to be our Neighbors Keeper and to put the teachings and values that Christ modeled for us into action.
Again, welcome to my new blog. And get ready for news, information, spiritual teachings, and other applications to be posted on this site.
In the meantime, continue to pray for protection for our country as we have been spared a horrfic disaster at this point. And that in this grace period we will continue to train and prepare to mobilize and be ready to respond!
Blessings to all who serve others in the name of God and as fellow citizens of this great nation.
Ready to journey, respond and impact with you!
Chaplain Edward Smith
972-234-3999 office
You have a new home to access to keep up with information in regards to disaster and emergency response, community preparedness, weather alerts, training insight, devotions, thoughts and spiritual and practical applications on many subjects.
There are several communication channels that are at your disposal, in addition to this blog make sure you store the following information for access:
email: edwardsmith@victimrelief.org and jethunter@aol.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/chaplainESmith
Twitter: twitter.com/ChaplainESmith
Blog: www.readytorespond.blogspot.com
Website: www.victimrelief.org
This is the 10th Anniversary of Victim Relief Ministries (VRM) and the celebration banquet will be held Thursday night November 5th in Dallas, Texas. And a special two day training conference will be held November 6-7th with an outstanding line up of speakers and trainers and musicians. But I will be talking about that awesome event in more detail at a later time.
The theme of the VRM Conference is Living Ready...Ready to Journey...Ready to Respond...Ready to Impact. And I want to focus for the moment on "Ready to Respond". In addition to being the VRM Deputy Executive Director I have responsibilities as Director of Disaster Response and Director of Training. So "Responding" is extremely important to me!
Being a Christian fits the principles of response to emergencies, and in helping victim survivors of disaster, crime and terrorism. It requires ACTION. We are commanded to be in ACTION!
We are to Love our Neighbor!
We are to Care for the widows and orphans!
We are to Carry the Good News to the Ends of the Earth!
We are to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty and sometimes to give our lives to defend others!
Pretty ACTION packed if you ask me.
But let me ask you. If a disaster happended at your school, your church, in your neighborhood, in your city, in your state or on a national scale- would you, or are you ready to respond? Do you have the desire, but don't have the means. Perhaps you are already VRM certified and trained on many levels- are you living "Ready to Respond?"
So this blog site will help us prepare to be the Good Samaritan in Action, to be our Neighbors Keeper and to put the teachings and values that Christ modeled for us into action.
Again, welcome to my new blog. And get ready for news, information, spiritual teachings, and other applications to be posted on this site.
In the meantime, continue to pray for protection for our country as we have been spared a horrfic disaster at this point. And that in this grace period we will continue to train and prepare to mobilize and be ready to respond!
Blessings to all who serve others in the name of God and as fellow citizens of this great nation.
Ready to journey, respond and impact with you!
Chaplain Edward Smith
972-234-3999 office
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