Yesterday was the anniversary of Katrina, where thousands of people lost every material thing that they left here when they hopefully evacuated for the hurricane. Those that didn’t leave dealt with power outages, heat, poisoned water everywhere, and death.
Those images flood my mind as I realize that the very thing that happened to the Katrina victims may very well happen to me and my family in a couple of days. As we prepare to leave and watch the news, it becomes more and more evident that the hurricane which spared us last time might not spare us this time. A couple of days ago in frantic panic mode I purchased flood insurance. Even though it won’t help me for this hurricane, we will have protection after thirty days for any subsequent hurricanes. We live in a flood x zone, which means no flood zone, so when our policy lapsed a couple of years ago I procrastinated renewing it. Now my procrastination has turned in to sour regret. Of course we have homeowner’s insurance, but it doesn’t matter how much damage the hurricane does if the house fills with water. Now all the scenarios of not being financially covered are pouring through my mind. If the house is gone and there’s nothing to pay for its replacement, where and how will we survive financially? The loan would have to continue to be paid plus we would have to either pay rent somewhere or finance another mortgage.
I kick myself realizing how quickly I judged those asking for compensation three years ago when they hadn’t taken the precautionary measurements to ensure being financially covered should such a disaster occur. How could I be so insensitive and judgmental to the frail humankind? I find myself in the same situation, potentially having no security should the storm carry a certain number of events.
I pray that God spare us all. I pray that our home will still be here when we return, dry inside. I pray for forgiveness for the insensitive way I handled Hurricane Katrina. I pray for mercy for all my mistakes.
God answers the tightness in my chest with, “As long as you can breathe and you are alive you have everything you ever had. As long as you and your family come out alive and together you have all that I have ever given you. It is going to be okay.”
Those images flood my mind as I realize that the very thing that happened to the Katrina victims may very well happen to me and my family in a couple of days. As we prepare to leave and watch the news, it becomes more and more evident that the hurricane which spared us last time might not spare us this time. A couple of days ago in frantic panic mode I purchased flood insurance. Even though it won’t help me for this hurricane, we will have protection after thirty days for any subsequent hurricanes. We live in a flood x zone, which means no flood zone, so when our policy lapsed a couple of years ago I procrastinated renewing it. Now my procrastination has turned in to sour regret. Of course we have homeowner’s insurance, but it doesn’t matter how much damage the hurricane does if the house fills with water. Now all the scenarios of not being financially covered are pouring through my mind. If the house is gone and there’s nothing to pay for its replacement, where and how will we survive financially? The loan would have to continue to be paid plus we would have to either pay rent somewhere or finance another mortgage.
I kick myself realizing how quickly I judged those asking for compensation three years ago when they hadn’t taken the precautionary measurements to ensure being financially covered should such a disaster occur. How could I be so insensitive and judgmental to the frail humankind? I find myself in the same situation, potentially having no security should the storm carry a certain number of events.
I pray that God spare us all. I pray that our home will still be here when we return, dry inside. I pray for forgiveness for the insensitive way I handled Hurricane Katrina. I pray for mercy for all my mistakes.
God answers the tightness in my chest with, “As long as you can breathe and you are alive you have everything you ever had. As long as you and your family come out alive and together you have all that I have ever given you. It is going to be okay.”
