FLOD SUPPORT ‘Beloved community’ honors man who has autism
RURAL CHURCH AMONG THOSE PROVIDING AID AFTER LOUISIANA FLOOD
WALKER, La. — Outside the small town of Walker, a rural Baptist church has become an oasis for flood victims.
As waters rose amid torrential rains that started about Aug. 8, National Guard rescue crews dropped people off at South Walker Baptist Church, because it sits on a ridge of relatively high ground in Livingston Parish near Baton Rouge.
Even as flooding has receded in recent days, the church — like many other places across hard-hit south Louisiana — has continued providing sustenance for the body and soul.
It sheltered 96 people in the days after the storm, and Pastor Mark Carroll said the sanctuary is still a dormitory for more than 20 who lost their homes, including a man who had been living in his car. It is also housing volunteers who have come to help people rebuild.
With a congregation of about 100 and help from the community, the church is offering hot meals, running a pantry stocked by donations from across the U.S. and conducting prayer services. Carroll said the church had been planning a revival in about
“We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”
Larry Stream has been a familiar fixture in the balcony seats at Mayflower Congregational Church UCC since he was a teen.
Stream, who has autism, remained faithful to the United Church of Christ congregation, which meets at 3901 NW 63, after the deaths of his parents, who were longtime members.
Now in his 50s, the Oklahoma City man arrived at church Sunday to find a surprise awaited him.
Mayflower, led by the Rev. Robin Meyers, held “Larry Wyatt Stream Sunday” in his honor. Instead of sitting in the balcony, Stream, 58, made his way down the aisle to a seat of honor. When Meyers stood at the altar to offer Communion to the congregation, Stream, as the day’s VIP, stood alongside him.
“This Sunday reminded me of church at its best,” Meyers said. “Larry Stream is a great example of how we welcome someone into the beloved community.”
Retired schoolteacher Carolyn Crepps, Stream’s legal guardian, said he smiled a lot and seemed to enjoy all the extra attention, particularly when songs from his favorite musical, “The Sound of Music,” were played throughout the service. In other tributes, the flowers that adorned the sanctuary were red, Stream’s favorte color. Also, a church member spoke to the crowd about one of Stream’s favorite pastimes, called “the circle game,” which he likes to play with everyone he meets. The game tests a person’s peripheral vision and motor skills.
“It was an extraordinary day and a wonderful sermon with a lesson that everyone has a
God created us for one reason: to know Him and love Him and have fellowship with Him. And originally that’s what happened; Adam and Eve loved God and had unbroken fellowship with Him. They not only lived in a perfect world, but they had perfect fellowship with their Creator.
But God created them with a free will — that is, with the ability to either love Him or even reject Him. Otherwise they would have been like robots, unable to choose to love God. We may enjoy watching a robot in action — but we can’t really love it, nor can it love us. And that’s why God didn’t make us like robots. Instead, He gave our original parents the ability to love Him — or even reject Him. True love requires the ability to respond.
But you know what happened. Satan told Adam and Eve that God was deceiving them (which was a lie), and if they obeyed him instead of God, they’d become like God. Tragically, they believed his lie — and their fellowship with God was broken. You and I now share in the consequences of their sin.
But God still loves us, and He still yearns for us to know Him and love Him and have fellowship with Him. And He has made this possible by sending Jesus Christ into the world to give His life for us. Have you responded to His love by accepting Christ into your life? The Bible says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). a month, but he believes the storm recovery is making that happen now as people build relationships with each other through God.
“It’s been this entire community,” Carroll said by phone. “We couldn’t have done anything without everyone, and I mean just about everyone, pitching in.”
Stories and service
Chuck Craft, a member of South Walker Baptist, said he and his wife, Karen, lost their home about a mile from the church but have been able to salvage some irreplaceable items, such as photos of their four children and 16 grandchildren. He said everyone in their family is safe, and that’s the most important thing.
“My story is no different than anybody’s down the road,” Craft said. “Everybody’s life is out on the curb to be picked up by garbage.”
The Baton Rouge area got thunderstorms with at least 2 to 3 inches of rain on Sunday, said the National Weather Service, which posted a flash flood warning for part of the day.
Officials set up a temporary bus system to help people in and around Baton Rouge whose vehicles were damaged by flooding. The bus service, provided by a private company, runs from downtown Baton Rouge to the towns of Gonzales, Walker, Denham Springs, Central and Geismar. The contract was for one week, but services could be extended if there’s a need, state Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Shawn D. Wilson said in a news release.
Mike Steele, spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, said two disaster recovery centers also opened in areas that flooded in south Louisiana. He said more would open as buildings are found with enough parking and proper access for people with disabilities.
Steele said more than $30 million in federal housing assistance has been approved for residents in the state.
Craft, 57, said the home where he and his wife have lived more than three decades is elevated nearly three feet, but it still had about five feet of water standing inside for the better part of a week. Because of the damage, he said, they’ll start over, as will many others affected by the flood.
For now, the Crafts are staying with relatives and trying to keep a sense of humor.
“We’re like cockroaches down here,” Craft said with a laugh. “You can’t kill us.”