Samaritan’s Purse volunteers are helping to restore hope to survivors of the deadly flash floods in Texas.
Bonnie Spillers and her husband Allen have enjoyed living “in the peace and quiet” of Hunt, Texas, along the Guadalupe River for the past 25 years. But early on the Fourth of July that tranquility was shattered.
“I woke up at three o’clock,” Bonnie said, “to the sound of thunder and lightning that was so loud that I thought it was going to crack the house in two.” She opened her front door, looked through the pouring rain, and stood horrified by what she saw. Powerful flood waters were rapidly coming up the front steps of her house and flowing onto the porch. By the time she woke Allen and they quickly got dressed, the river was in their house.
“The water was coming toward us with white caps,” she said. “It was raging.”
Bonnie Spillers said the help she received from this volunteer and many others like her was “a God thing.”
Soon, their cars in the garage were under water and rendered useless. With no escape route, they held onto each other and prayed that the flood would soon recede. After two hours standing in the swirling tide and watching their possessions slosh from room to room around their house, the water started to retreat. But they had no power and no way to contact anyone for help. At midnight, they were rescued by local firefighters and taken to a shelter.
“Fear Not”
Allen is a former police officer and helicopter pilot who has been involved in many emergency rescues over the years. The massive flood, Bonnie said, has aggravated Allen’s post-traumatic stress.
“He’s dealing with a lot and is sometimes fearful,” she said. “But my Bible says, ‘Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God’ (Isaiah 41:10). I know God has me in the palm of His hands. That’s where I am.”
Bonnie Spillers stands for a picture with the team of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers who worked on her home.
Bonnie, a Texas native, gave her life to Christ when she was 12 years old at a tent revival meeting. “I walked the sawdust trail,” she said. Soon afterward, she sang in the choir at a Billy Graham crusade at Rice Stadium in Houston. As an adult, she has participated in Operation Christmas Child.
“I’ve packed many shoeboxes through the years,” she said. “It’s a wonderful ministry.”
“It’s a God Thing”
Bonnie didn’t know where to turn for assistance in cleaning out her house, but she saw orange-shirted Samaritan’s Purse volunteers helping her next-door neighbor, and they asked if she also needed help.
“Did I ever,” she said.
A team of volunteers began scraping mud from the floors, hauling out damaged furniture, ripping out damp drywall, and spraying for mold. Bonnie said she believes they were sent by God to help her.
Volunteers hauled out the damaged furniture from the Spillers’ home into their yard during the cleanup process.
“It means so much that they are willing to come into muddy, mold-ridden, nasty situations and help,” she said. “It’s a God thing. Only godly people can give like this from their hearts.”
Bonnie doesn’t know if she and Allen will be able to repair their beloved home or will have to move. But she’s confident that God will provide for them just as He provided the volunteers, not only to care for her property but to show her the love of Jesus.
“At our age [both in their 80s], it’s difficult to think about starting over,” she said. “But God has been with me through thick and thin. He’s never left me. I know I’m here today because of the grace of God. It’s that simple.”
Awakened by God
At 1 a.m. on Indepdendence Day, “God woke me up,” Laurie Lowe said. “Yes, the dogs were barking and it was pouring rain but it was the Lord.“ She then started watching weather reports, because the rain was unusually heavy and relentless.
Around 4 a.m. she turned on the outside lights and saw that the Guadalupe River, which runs behind her house, had overflowed its banks.
“I knew we were in trouble,” she said. “The water was coming up too fast.” She woke her husband Mike and they hurriedly got dressed.
“Water then started coming through the back door and it chased us out the front door,” Laurie said. “We’ve seen a flood or two before but nothing like this.”
Mike and Laurie Lowe gratefully receive a Billy Graham Training Center Bible from the Samaritan’s Purse team after volunteers worked on their home.
They hopped in their pickup truck and drove up to the highway at the entrance to their property and watched as the flood waters filled their house up to the ceiling and began to flow up to the road. They then saw two people in pajamas wandering around, traumatized, and drove them to a shelter.
When Mike and Laurie returned to their home where they’ve lived for the past 27 years, they had to maneuver around “massive quantities of lumber,” Laurie said. The debris came from houses that had been washed away upriver. They looked through the windows and saw that everything inside was destroyed and that the floors and walls were now painted with mud.
Service Above and Beyond
Soon, they were in contact with Samaritan’s Purse. The couple’s church, Kerrville Bible Church, is hosting us during this deployment. They said they knew they could trust Samaritan’s Purse because it was operated by Billy Graham’s son, Franklin Graham. They both watched Billy Graham as children and also as adults.
“A lot of the dynamic things he said are still with me,” Mike said. “He was a tremendous man of God.”
Mike and Laurie were amazed as they watched volunteers go about removing water-damaged furniture and muddy drywall, and then hauling it outside.
“It means everything to us to have these volunteers here. We couldn’t do this work,” Laurie said. “They’re doing the worst work you can imagine, and they do it cheerfully and have encouraged us all along the way. This is service beyond anything I’ve ever seen. But most of all they’ve given us a lot of hope.”
Mike agreed. “They’re not just volunteers to me now, they’re friends.”
Becoming More Like Jesus
The Lowes, although devastated by the flood, know that God has a plan for them and trust Him for whatever lies ahead.
Samaritan’s Purse volunteers teams served Mike and Laurie Lowe in Texas.
“We love Him and will serve Him the rest of our days,” Mike said.
Laurie echoed those thoughts. “There would be total despair if we didn’t have the Lord. Our goal is always to become more like Jesus and if this helps us do that, then for us it’s a good thing.”
Please pray for all of those who have lost loved ones or have had their homes damaged or destroyed. Pray also for our volunteers as they share the hope that can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
