Drama in Charley’s path
By the Rev. Dr. Jacqueline “Missy” DeBerry, Presbyterian Chapel In The Grove,Lakeland, Fla., August 23, 2004
LAKELAND, Fla. – Her screams were painful to hear. Sheer terror was in her voice. As I held the phone close I kept trying to calm her by talking quietly and prayerfully with her. “Hang in there. Hold on,” I said. “It will all be over in a minute.” “I’m having a heart attack now and it’s all falling in on me. It’s all blowing away. It’s all coming down on me. What will I do? Come now!” she screamed. “Come and get me now!”
With tears welling up in my eyes and now streaming down my face, I sat still and listened. All the while trying to shield myself and my precious son. “Come and get me now! she screamed! “I can’t get to you now. Hang on. Keep talking. Don’t hang up!” I said. “Get covers, pillows, anything you can find to shield you and put them all around you. I don’t care how hot it gets.” She placed the phone down. She came back. “Someone just came to get me. I told them that you would come,” she exclaimed.
My tears were uncontrollable at this point. Earlier that day I had told her I would come and get her. I had told her that four times that day. I tried and tried and tried to get her to leave her mobile home. She was 90 and all alone. I pleaded with her and begged her to leave before the hurricane hit. She would not heed the warnings. Now she was terrified. I knew that she was on the verge of being swept away or dying from a heart attack. Her tormentor’s name was Charley. He was packing 145 mile an hour winds.
She was one of mine. She was assigned by the Almighty himself to my care. I was her pastor. All day long I had begged her to let me come and get her and take her to a place where she would be safe. Each time she refused. Each time she said no. I had called every member of the church who lived in a mobile home or lived alone that morning. It was important to me that they be safe. The warnings had come that Charley would hit St. Petersburg or Tampa. Somehow deep inside, I knew it was headed for us. So I spent the morning preparing a shelter at the church. I filled every pot and pan I could find with water. Even the garbage cans were filled. My rationale was that we might need to have water to flush toilets and the garbage cans would certainly be good for this. I had planned ahead as much as possible. But I didn’t count on getting a call on the emergency cell phone while Charley was sweeping his way through our city. I did not dream that I would get a call when the hurricane was hitting and pounding the life out of our county. Most phone lines were jammed that day. How in the world would a little cell phone work in the midst of such chaos. It did. That alone was a miracle.
She knew that I would do what I said. Yet, she did not understand that I couldn’t come while the hurricane was hitting. She continued to scream and the tears continued rolling down my face. I prayed and asked God to send an angel to protect her. Our Lord’s words came to mind. “The Lord desires that not one should perish, no not one.” I felt the pain and agony of our Lord in my heart at that moment and so I could not hold back the tears. “Missy, this is how I feel when I warn and warn and call and call my children to come to me. They will not. They choose instead to go their own way. They wait until it is too late and then wonder why I am not there to help them. They perish. My heart breaks with each and every child who refuses to come to me, to come to safety.” These words our Lord spoke to my spirit.
Still on the phone and sobbing, she yelled, “I see red lights flashing in my drive.” “Go,” I screamed. She didn’t hear me. I could hear a man’s voice a good distance from the phone. Hoping that he would hear me from a distance, I began screaming as loudly as possible. “Go!” “Go!” “Go, with him,” I screamed. “Go now.” I screamed with everything in me. I so desperately wanted her to hear me. Finally after a couple of minutes, she picked up the phone. “There’s a man and I don’t know him.” Knowing that God was answering my prayer, I interrupted. “I don’t care. Go with him now,” I yelled. She said she would.
Hours later I was trying to find this lost member of my church. I called the shelter. I finally found someone who knew that a nurse had tried to take care of her. Mary was the name of the nurse. I tried to drive to where I thought Betty might be. I couldn’t. Charley was not gone. The air was pregnant with unpleasant expectancies. Back into the house my son and I went. The phone lines were jammed. Finally, around 2 a.m., I was able to find Mary who sent Betty with a woman named Vera. Vera had gone to the home of Millie, so I was told. Finally, I spoke with Betty. “Be still tonight and stay right where you are. I will find you first thing in the morning,” I assured her.
All night, I could think of nothing else. It was as if a replay button had been pressed in mind. Over and over I heard her screams. Unable to rest, I could hardly wait for daybreak. At that time, David and I headed for the park where she lived. The roof was gone from her home. The shed had slammed into the home. It was a terrible sight. I knew that the Almighty himself kept her that night. It was a miracle that she survived. After going door to door, I finally found Betty. With my son’s assistance, we were able to get her settled so that the healing could begin. Again my Lord spoke, “If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 and go and search for it? And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the 99 which were not lost. So, it is the will of your Father who is in heaven that not one of these little ones perish.” (Matthew 18: 12-14)