A Word from Pastor Karyn

“The Flood of God’s Love”

It was July 29 in the antediluvian days. Before the Flood, that is. The VBS pageant had just ended - a moment for celebration. As I walked to my car, I saw a magnificent rainbow hovering like a dome over the church. "It's a sign," I said, "although I'm not sure of what."

Who would have guessed that, 48 hours later, a massive wall of water would have hit our buildings with such tremendous force that it filled the entire church with seventeen inches of water, and the nursery school with six. But looking back, that rainbow was a sign of God's promises. "Don't be afraid," God was saying, "for I will be with you."

And God was. We have experienced many miracles since our buildings were flooded – miracles like:

  • Dan Kramer from ChemDry who offered a truckload of drying equipment at no cost to us,
  • The American Legion, which sent an electrician to assess the electrical damage, at no cost to us,
  • Jeff Rainforth and David May from Phelps Construction Group, who not only offered to donate all of the drywall and install it at no cost to us, but also sent an electrician to work for weeks, at no cost to us,
  • The huge storage container that was dropped in our parking lot by the Wayne Regular Republican Group, at no cost to us,
  • The 30-yard dumpsters that kept arriving every time we needed one, at no cost to us (paid for by Wayne Township, Omni Waste Management, Michael and Jamie Morley from PCNS, and Craig Corvino),
  • Michael Rudolph, who provided a refurbished Konica Minolta Bizhub copier, at no cost to us,
  • Craig Wilkie from Lincolns Plumbing and Heating, who gave us a break on the installation of two new hot water heaters,
  • The countless individuals and organizations who donated lunches for us, and
  • The scores of volunteers who kept coming back to see if there was any more work to be done. And there always was. It’s amazing how much stuff was hauled out of our building, and how much work needed to be done.

When times get tough, it’s tempting to lose faith – to wonder where God is or if God even cares about us. We’ve been through some tough times lately. The irony, however, is that the Flood isn’t one of them. The Flood was the event that revealed to us that God’s mercies are new every morning. There will be tough times ahead, no doubt. But no one can ever take away from us the photo of that rainbow in the sky. No one can ever take away from us the miracles that have occurred. And no one can ever take away from us the God who is always with us. Maybe we needed a Flood to teach us that lesson all over again – the Flood of God’s Love. For that’s what it was. To God be the glory. Amen.