Last Days at the Reliant Center
From Peter & Topaz:
The last weekend of the Astrodome/Reliant shelters was the weekend of September 16th, 17th, & 18th. The residents had been given notice that the shelter was closing and everyone had to be out by Tuesday the 21st. Tensions were quite high over this issue and there had been several incidents. Fema closed its desks early and left altogether.
We had just received the donated Activated Magazines “Why Suffering” and were thrilled to be able to have something really feeding for all the hurting people. So we went bed-to-bed or rather cot-to-cot with the Activated magazines listening, praying with and counseling the people.
One Friday just before everyone was moving from the Reliant Center to the Arena, I met the Simon family (See picture below) They were so sweet but all very sad because during the evacuation of New Orleans, their uncle/brother was being air lifted off of the roof of his house and he had a heart attack and died. His wife and daughter were devastated! He was only in his mid 50’s and hadn’t been sick before. Sheila, his sister, is a real believer & very positive. She said she knew in her heart that her brother was in a better place now. I spent a long time with her and talked to each one of them letting them unload the burden of their grief and the trauma of the events that they had witnessed at the Superdome. I read to them some of the answers to their questions right out of the Activated magazine. God’s Word was so powerful and really comforted their aching hearts. I asked if I could pray for them and we all stood in a big circle right there. First, for their needs, and then they all prayed to receive Jesus as their personal Savior. It was such a beautiful time of emotional healing for them all!
