FCA Cleveland

Late on Friday, September 23 and in the early morning hours of Saturday, September 24, 2005, Southeastern Texas and Southwestern Louisiana were struck a mighty blow by Hurricane Rita. The city of Vidor, Texas was not spared by this powerful hurricane. Vidor experienced more than ten hours of sustained hurricane force winds, with gusts up to 165 miles per hour. The Vidor church of Christ that meets at 460 East Freeway, suffered severe damage to its building. At approximately 3:32 am Saturday, the stained glass windows at the front of the building were shattered and hurricane force winds lifted a large section of the roof from the building. (The reason we believe that this took place at 3:32 am was because we had a battery operated clock mounted on the wall above entrance to the auditorium – after the storm this clock was found on the floor with its battery missing – reading 3:32!) After the roof was destroyed several inches of rain fell inside the auditorium, ruining the carpet, pews, bibles, songbooks and other essential items.The day before Rita hit, a mandatory evacuation order was issued for Orange County – spreading the members of the Vidor church of Christ to several areas throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Arkansas. Church members spent many long hours in traffic trying to escape the storm’s wrath. (More than 2 million Texans evacuated from an area extending from Matagorda Bay to the Louisiana border – an approximate 250 mile stretch of coastline, including America’s fourth largest city – Houston.) Because of all the evacuation traffic heading inland from the coast, it took many of our church members as long as 12-16 hours to drive only 200-300 miles. Some members rode out the storm in hotels, in barns, in their vehicles, in lake cabins or even in shelters. A few were unable to evacuate because of car trouble. Others were first responders and had to ride out the storm at a local elementary school.Our members spent several worrisome nights in exile awaiting word about the damage to their homes and to the church building. Keeping in touch with one another was also quite difficult, because the cell phone circuits were spotty for the first few days. Despite the difficulties in getting through, the mobile phones were a blessing, in that church members were able to locate and encourage one another, even though scattered to the four winds! Needless to say, the Vidor church of Christ did not meet for worship as a congregation on September 25 – the Sunday after the storm. Most church members were still evacuated at that point.A few church members began arriving back at their homes on Sunday afternoon, to find them with trees on top of them, or with the shingles blown off, having no electricity, running water, or sewage. When others arrived on Monday, they found the city of Vidor in disarray. Trees were down everywhere; most of the beautiful oak trees in the town had been uprooted or snapped in half. The streets were blocked by trees, power lines were down all over town and many houses were cut nearly in half by fallen trees. There was no water or electricity and conditions were hot, humid and horrid! The temperature was 102 degrees and the humidity was over 90%! To make things worse, it seemed as if the only inhabitants of Vidor were flies, mosquitoes and fire ants!Just when it was beginning to look as if nothing was going to go right – that things were just going to continue getting worse, the situation began to improve! First, the scattered members began to receive disaster relief funds and special collections taken up by the congregations that they worshipped with while the were evacuated. Congregations, from Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas and other places began sending relief funds to help the church recover. Members of the church from Jacksonville, TX along with others from the church in Tyler, TX came to town on Monday with tractors, bulldozers and chainsaws. They immediately began to clear up trees from the yards of local church members. These hard-working brethren spent five days working with Vidor church members and helping out the community. Their labor of love was truly a remarkable sight! Through all this recovery assistance from the brotherhood, we have seen a wonderful demonstration of the kind of selfless love that Christians are to have for one another. To the same degree that the hurricane and resultant destruction was bad (and BAD it was) – to that same degree (Much more!) was the love demonstrated by our brothers and sisters in Christ GOOD!As the first week after the storm came to an end, Vidor began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Brethren had truly come together in an unprecedented way! People who had formerly just attended church services together, drew closer to one another – became as family! Those who had need – had their needs met by their brethren. Hospitality became an essential part of our lives! Those who had water wells and window unit air conditioners powered by generators opened up their homes to those who had none! Several nights, no fewer than five men slept on the floor in one room that was air-conditioned! That is close – that is like being family! Where chaos and miserable conditions abounded – so did unity and brotherly love!The second week after the storm began on Sunday with worship services held in the parking lot of the building. Preparations had been made the previous day for about 30 people to be at worship services. When 10:00 a.m. rolled around, at least 63 people were in attendance! (Quick, fill some more communion cups!) Despite the storm damage, the miserable humidity and the mosquitoes, 63 people (every member who was in town) saw fit to come together in Christian worship and fellowship! Numerous hugs were shared and many tears flowed as the church members began to see and encourage one another. What a glorious day it was!By the end of that second week, things had begun to return to at least some semblance of normalcy. Electricity had been restored to a large section of Vidor. A large contractor had begun the work of removing the carpet, pews and wet, moldy sheetrock. The classroom / fellowship hall addition had managed to escape with only minor damage, and by Wednesday of the second week, it had air conditioning and lights! Bible class was held on that evening, though only 10-15 people were able to attend. Morning and evening services were held inside the fellowship hall the following Sunday, October 9th and a short singing service was held inside on October 12th.The church of Christ in Vidor was dealt a mighty blow, we were knocked down – but not out! We got back up, dusted ourselves off, rolled up our sleeves and went back to work! Like in the movie Rocky, we took a hit, rolled with the punch, never gave up and came back like champions!