God's Presence Teaches Us...

By Lisa Kramme, Director of Faith Formation

It seems like winter was hard enough on the roads in Nebraska this year, potholes plaguing cities and towns because of larger-than-normal snowfall amounts.  Then rivers and creeks started to rise.  And snow started to fall—again—and in larger amounts than earlier winter storms had carried. 

Now, five-and-a-half weeks after the bomb cyclone and broken levees, a number of highways lie broken and crumbling where water showed its brute strength.  Other highways are abnormally congested as road closures turn 10-minute commutes to schools, daycares, and offices into 45-minute detours for countless individuals and families.

If roads could talk, I wonder what those over-burdened highways would be saying today.

“I’m not sure I can handle this increased pressure.”

“How much longer?”

“When will crews arrive to help with problems that will happen more often until things are back to normal?”

“I’m not sure how much more I can take…”

Roads can’t talk, but I wonder—if they could talk, how much of what those overburdened roads would say might be similar to what people might say who have been impacted by the disaster, too. 

What increased pressure are people feeling who have lost land, cattle, livelihoods, neighbors, possessions, and more? 

How long will it take to muck out, do mold remediation, put up fence…?

Highways show very real outward signs of impact.  They crumble, fall, crack.  Humans, on the other hand, sometimes keep the signs of impact hidden.  This may be a conscious choice, or, if nobody asks and/or listens, people don’t necessarily have a way to tell the story of how challenging things are.

If we’ve learned one thing through Lent and Easter, my prayer is that we’ve learned that God loved creation so much that God sent Jesus to live among us, teaching us how to live.  Jesus taught us by his words and his actions that loving God means loving neighbor and loving neighbor means loving anyone who is in need.  God’s presence taught us how to be God’s presence to others. 

It’s a very real possibility that the roads in Nebraska will be back to normal after the natural disaster in March long before the lives of people will be back to normal.  In fact, what we know about disaster recovery is that it might take five times longer (based on estimates that some highways will reopen in one year and other disaster recovery will take five years to work out). 

Crews working on highways need certain skills to fix the roads, but the good news is that you don’t need any particular skills to serve your neighbor beyond being a child of God, a person who learned from Jesus about loving those in need.  In the months and years to come, how can each of us share the presence of God with our neighbors?  If you would like resources for serving through disaster recovery, please contact the Nebraska Synod office at 402-896-5311 or check out the Nebraska Synod website.