Nomads2

We pulled out of the Boulder County fair grounds early this morning, with a few stops for email, and supplies we headed south and east, east and south for 237 miles till we parked at Sportsman RV park in Lamar Colorado. It is a nice park and priced very affordable. We drove by where we used to live in eastern Aurora and almost did not recognize anything. As we were driving south and east through the vast flatland that is eastern Colorado, a real contrast to where we spent most of August and September, we pulled into Kit Carson Colorado. Looked for a post office sign, at least the government didn’t take those down, made a right turn and came face to face with a tumbleweed invasion of the little town! Norm and I started to bail out to assist the town’s folks battle these nasty bushes. But, as you can see from the photo, they had every tool from the local area brought to bear on the round weeds. They had men, they had women, they even had kids, they had fire, they had rakes, they had riding mowers, and they had a back hoe! We have never been more proud to be Americans! Slowly, we walked to the post office to buy some post card stamps, you guessed it, closed at noon for the day. Cursed administration…

How do you go from day 9 to day 13? Easy, you move like greased lightening and assess like there is no tomorrow. We did! We were sent by Incident Command to check out 38 homes in Aurora Colorado. We did not want to waste time driving back and forth from Longmont to Aurora and back again. So, we loaded up all our gear and hooked up the little camper that could and headed for Cherry Creek State Park. It was okay, but pricey, I can’t recommend it. A $9.00 daily pass has to be bought, a camp per night fee of $24.00 per night and you get to pay $1.25 for a seven minute luke warm shower. All those fees and the state cannot afford to provide soap for washing your hands. After 2 days I called our friends Bruce and Char, and begged to mooch off them and camped at their place for our last night in Aurora. Upon rising, I discovered a tire that was on it’s last steel belt, so we limped to Sam’s and purchased a new one for our trip back to Longmont. We gave our report, and started to pack up our camper when our I.C. boss brought us three, last homes to look at. Two in Longmont and one at Lyons

 

and we reported back, got our kit in order and will hit the road to continue our aimless ambling around the country…

Never be afraid to trust the unknown future to a known God….Corrie Ten Boom…

This is Richard’s home.

This morning Dave and I were looking for the house we were supposed to assess. House numbers are very hard to see because the debris piles are so high. We walked around a house, me on one side Dave on the other. It was very obvious that the water had pushed through the back door of this home, all the way through , and out the front door. Now about Richard. As Dave and I slugged through at least 6 inches of mud, trying to figure out which way to go to find our house, an older gentleman and lady approached us through what was left of an alley. Richard and his daughter. Richard pointed us to the house we were looking for, then we began talking about him and his loss. Richard’s home has been in his family for 60 years. His parents lived in it for 20 years, and Richard for 40. We’ve not been able to help mud out his home yet because the street leading to his house has been completely washed away, meaning we have no access to his house to do the work. Why am I telling you all this? Because there’s a God miracle coming next.

After we prayed with Richard and he slugs off in the mud to his house, his daughter tells us this story. Richard lives alone and wears hearing aids. It was only sprinkling when he went to bed, naturally he takes his hearing aids out. He doesn’t hear the evacuation sirens. Two different neighbors try unsuccessfully to wake him up. Then his nephew comes to the house and some how ( I know how, it was God) wakes him up. By the time they get out the water is up to a foot at Richard’s back door. Had the nephew not been able to get him out, and he didn’t wake up until he felt the wet, it would have been too late, he never would have been able to get out.  Praise God that (“some how”) his nephew was able to wake him up.

Dave and I have seen and heard so many God things since we’ve been here. God has even bridged the English / Spanish communication gap for us. Have you ever had moments that words just can’t describe? That’s how I’ve been feeling about God, there are just not enough or the right words to describe how wonderful and amazing our God is.

The  weather has been beautiful and Norm and I have been blessed beyond our imagination. We have prayed with so many, even if they say they are not that “religious.” We are not religious either, we have a ‘RELATIONSHIP’ with the King of the universe, Jesus Christ! We have even been successful leaving tracks with some. Tracks work! Carry them with you, we do. The teams are getting smaller as we get toward the weekend, but I am told they will start building back up on Monday. One home we looked at today in Lyons, had a 10 foot deck and a nice view of the small creek that passed behind it. Now the creek has grown to a good-sized river and he has water front property, literally. The patio door opens to a 10 foot drop into the water!

 

 

 

good-sized river and he has water front property, literally. The patio door opens to a 10 foot drop into the water!

We are on day 5 of our disaster relief work based out of Longmont Colorado. We continue to expand our DR resume, adding real world assessments. It has been a stretch for me talking with so many people. The Lord continues to work on me. I am a work in progress! Norm continues to be my hero in every aspect of what it is to be a Chaplain. She is so good at giving a hug at the right time, asking to pray for the home owner, and loving on everyone she comes across. We have been walking more then driving the neighborhoods, so we can make more one on one contact. We covet your prayers as there are so many here to pray for….

 

 

We really liked hanging around Cody. We had a nice campground and stayed for two days. The weather was so nice that we walked for nearly 5 miles from our campsite to downtown and back. The only thing we did not do was take photos, well, only one. I don’t know how that happened  but it did. We walked in every store, picked up lots of things, put them down. Considered buying lunch or at least some ice cream. In the end, we bought some ice tea and walked back to camp.