Who Moved My House

As devastating as the flood that hit Cedar Rapids has been, when I saw the house on the right I thought of the book Who Moved My Cheese? In the forward of the book Ken Blanchard writes, “Who Moved My Cheese? is a story about change that takes place in a Maze where four amusing characters look for “Cheese” – cheese being a metaphor for what we want to have in life, whether it is a job, a relationship, money, a big house, freedom, health, recognition, spiritual peace, or even an activity like jogging of gold. Each of us has our own idea of what Cheese is, and we pursue it because we believe it makes us happy. If we get it, we often become attached to it. And if we lose it, or it is taken away, it can be traumatic.”

To say that the flood and the resulting aftermath have been traumatic is an understatement. As you drive up and down the streets you see homes that have been destroyed and piles and piles of stuff, some reaching 15 feet high. Slowly those piles are being picked up and as they are streets are being blocked by the trucks and loaders. Washers, dryers, refrigerators and freezers line the streets. Some with the doors removed or taped shut for safety. Others ripped apart by the flood waters. Some people have thrown everything out onto the curb, not wanting anything that will remind them of what they have lost. Others sit on stools and chairs sifting through every last piece for something to hold on to. All of them tugging at my heart.

Nearly 3 weeks ago, on June 9th I went to bed thinking about what it was that I needed to do the next day. I had several things planned. I was going to start preparing new lessons for youth group and Sunday school this fall and I also needed to start preparing for confirmation class to begin in September. Early Tuesday morning I woke up around 1:30 and could not sleep and I decided to check my email and read some of the news on the KCRG and Gazette websites. What I found was an email from Charles Daugherty calling an emergency meeting of the Serve The City churches at Ellis Community Church at 8 AM. I went back to bed and reset my alarm to make sure I would make it to the meeting. Had I been able to sleep I would not have seen that email until after the meeting had started.

When I arrived at Ellis Community I found several other pastors already there. Serve The City was preparing to serve the community of Cedar Rapids in a way that none of us ever thought we would have to. Peter Teahen came and spoke on behalf of the Red Cross and Linn County Emergency Management. We were mobilizing to begin the process of warning the residents along the river that a flood was coming. How and why was not yet evident. After the meeting I went to the office and immediately began preparing. I quickly finished the things that I needed to get done for the rest of the week and then started sending emails to other churches in hopes of getting their support physically and in prayer. I went home that afternoon waiting for word on our next steps. After playing tennis with Diane and Karissa we went to the park by the police station to see the river. Where we would normally have been sitting for the 4th of July fireworks was already under water. People were walking around in amazement taking pictures with their cameras and cell phones. That is when I got the call from Patricia, Charles’ wife. Everyone was getting called to go to the Time Check neighborhood and help people get their belongings in order. We went out in teams and talked with the people in the neighborhood alerting them to the potential of their homes getting flooded. A couple of hours in I told Pastor Coyle that I was taking a volunteer to go to the home of a member of Hus as I knew she needed help. Lisa and I left and walked the block and a half to Wendy Barton’s house. We immediately started helping to move items from the basement to the first floor. Then I heard someone knock on the door. The gas had been shut off. Shortly after that I called Pastor Coyle and requested more help. Within 30 minutes we had 11 people there and in about an hour had nearly everything in the basement moved upstairs. They were telling us that the impending evacuation was for 6 PM on Wednesday. I left Ellis Community Church about midnight and went back to the office to send out a couple more emails for help. It was 1:30 by the time my head hit the pillow and I would only get a few hours sleep before going back to Time Check. All of Wednesday morning was spent talking to the residents and asking if they needed any help. Fear and disbelief were the reactions that we got. One lady we talked to was in her late eighties and she did not know what to do. I gave her a phone number to call for help or prayer. As we left each home we prayed. Later that morning we helped a family on 3rd Street NW. When we got they were trying to get a big screen television out of the house and into a pickup. I quickly replaced his wife and we quickly got the television into the truck. The kids were shaken and shocked, not knowing what to make of the situation. The father then asked us to get the washer, dryer and deep freeze out of the basement. Water was already seeping into the basement and everything on the floor was wet. We got his tools out too, but I am not sure that he ever saw them or the freezer again as they left with the freezer and tools sitting on the front lawn with no more room to take them. Before we left we moved the grill, mowers, and bicycles onto the deck. Even we thought it would be high enough. I later saw them at the Red Cross shelter at Prairie High School as they are now homeless. He told me that they never made it back. It was nearly 11 in the morning when they left and at Noon the police evacuated Time Check. He was very thankful for the help, but visibly shaken having lost their home and most of their belongings. At Noon on Wednesday we evacuated Ellis Community Church and moved operations to Central Church of Christ.

Time and even the days would become a blur. Over the next 36 hours I and my crew would make several trips back into the Time Check neighborhood. On one trip we ended up at the Boys and Girls Club and helped them to move everything from the first floor to the gym on the second floor, it would not be high enough. When I parked the van it was about 5 feet from the nearest water. When I returned less than an hour later to get it the water was half way up the tires.

One man that we helped was almost ready to leave but his sump pump was not working so he called us for help. Getting there was a matter of parking down the street and jumping across the rivers that were already flooding the sides of the streets. When we got there the water in his basement was at least 6 inches deep. We asked him if he wanted us to get the washer and dryer, but he knew that they were already lost. His concern remained with the sump pump and getting it going again. None of us had boots to go in that deep of water. You could hear the fear and anxiety in his voice. It was then that I made the decision to take off my socks and boots, roll up my jeans and wade through the basement. After several attempts I was unable to get the pump going and we all headed back upstairs. Once there the trembling in his 83 year old voice worsened. I head back down the steps. I finally found the problem. The hose was kinked where it went out the window. I found a piece of rope and managed to get the hose hung so the kink was out. He could now leave his home feeling better. Little did we know that even he was not far enough away on 10th street to escape the water.

On Wednesday afternoon we began delivering the evacuation notices to the residents of Cedar Rapids who lived in the 500 year flood plain. The first place my crew went was to the Rompot neighborhood. One man, Don, was not leaving no matter what. In all his 74 years of living he had not run from anything and he was not about to start now. The last home in Rompot that I stopped at was Mary’s house. I noticed on her front step a bench with “It all started in the garden” engraved on it. She invited me inside. She was visibly frightened. I explained to her that the chance existed for her home to flood. I told her to get the things that meant the most as well as her important papers – whatever could not be replaced and to leave as soon as possible. Both Don’s and Mary’s home were flooded into the 1st floor. Mary’s bench still sits on her front step, everything else in her home, including the walls was put out on the curb. That afternoon we started at the corner of 8th avenue and 8th street and made our way down to the corner of L street and 16th avenue SW. Along the way we met people who were in disbelief that the water would ever get that far, but it did. One man we met along the way said there was no way that he was going to leave his home. He was going to wait until the water was actually coming up the street. From what I experienced that was the last thing he should have done. The water came and it came fast. The last person that I spoke with before we left the neighborhood was the owner of Sam’s Pizza on 6th street. He had a lot of questions and unfortunately I did not have all of the answers. Regardless he was glad that I had stopped. A week and half later I was at the Hutton’s helping as much as I could, but there was not much we could do with out power as the water in the basements needed to be removed. The main floor of the shop has buckled, but the office was untouched. At the house the water got within a step or two of the main floor. Praise God! Jim did get a gas water pump and we started pumping out the basement of the shop. There was still a lot of water down there so it was very slow going. Finally the pump ran out of gas. When we checked the water had gone down just a couple of steps which equated to less than a foot. For the most part with as little as we could do I was left with a rather helpless feeling. On my way out I stopped at Sam’s Pizza as I saw the owner outside. He invited me inside the building. His thriving business and years of work were gone. He had faired much worse than the Hutton’s. He has vowed to rebuild in the same spot. He said he felt he owed it to the neighborhood. I am looking forward to getting a pizza there once he is back open. Last week as I drove by there was a sign on the other side of the street announcing a huge block party in June of 2009.

On Thursday morning I picked up Sean at his house as he wanted to help. He would spend the morning out in the rain with the rest of us helping and later would help us move out to our new operations center at Prairie High School. We spent most of the day separated as he helped with different projects. I know he was tired when his Mom picked him up after work. His help and the help of hundreds of others saved lives.

Before moving to Prairie High School we lost power at Central Church of Christ. We quickly moved the phone center to Hus and spent about 3 or 4 hours here on the phones. We returned to the volunteer center at Central Church of Christ once the power had been restored. It was after we returned there that Pastor Coyle asked me to help him run the operations center at Prairie. I would spend the next two and a half weeks there coordinating the efforts of Serve The City. Having started with two phones at the church we grew to five and within a few days fifteen. The days were flying by. It was nothing to be working 17 hours a day. It was then that I was glad I was a tech geek. The software I had loaded on the computers here allow me to log in from anywhere in the world that has an Internet connection. Because of that I was able to work on some things when we were not busy, which until this past week was not all that often.

Before we knew it Serve The City had become the coordinator of volunteers for Linn County, the City of Cedar Rapids, and other agencies. At one point the Serve The City volunteers were delivering 2000+ meals a day to the Cedar Rapids police and fire departments, the Iowa State Patrol and other groups. All of these meals having been prepared by the Salvation Army.

What we were chasing was not a job, a relationship, money, a big house, freedom, health, recognition or even spiritual peace. The cheese we were chasing was the flood. The cheese or treasure that we should be chasing is God, unfortunately we are usually chasing big screen LCD televisions, new cars, fancy homes. We are already filled with God’s treasure. I really believe that the resolve of this community is based on our belief in God. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us “I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.” We are already gaining a reputation around the country as a people that will not be held down. We are moving forward. Just like it says in Isaiah 58:12, “Your people will rebuild the cities that are now in ruins; you will be known for repairing broken places and for rebuilding the roads and houses.” Who moved my house? The water did. What about the future? There is no need to worry because God is already there. We will rebuild and we will be stronger for it.

Amen.

Because of Him ~ Terry