Joel  2:12  “Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning…”

          God’s promise is a new heart. 

          What this means is quite specific. It related directly to a renewed covenant^[1] with God. We can also infer from this verse that Joel’s message from God echoes a call to renewed repentance.

          Joel knew a merciful God, despite many hardships in his time.

          Joel believed in a God who would not give over His covenant people and His creation to final destruction. In proclaiming this message,  Joel’s prophecy for us, I believe really, and truly, remains timeless.

          God has not abandoned us. God still exists and is at work in our world - right here at work within our community and at Oahe Presbyterian Church.

          Sadly, and unfortunately, it is we who too often “turn away” not recognizing the full reality of this. “Return with all of your heart” - the Prophet‘s call from God is clear - though the path is not easy; but rest assured, the rewards are eternal.

          God be praised.

Rev. Johnny Rhoad

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Potluck—Your Input Needed
Saturday, October 16^th, 6:00 p.m.  -  Fellowship Hall

The Session has invited Rev. Steve Boots to Pierre the weekend of October 16-17^th to work with our congregation to help improve the vitality of Oahe Presbyterian Church.  Following the potluck, Rev. Boots would like to get the thoughts, ideas, and concerns of the congregation.  This meeting is very important as significant decisions regarding OPC will likely need to be made soon.     

Rev. Boots served as an Associate for Congregational Transformation for the General Assembly from 1996-2005.  During that time, he consulted with numerous presbyteries and congregations around the nation.  Since then, in addition to serving as an Interim Pastor, he has acted as a consultant to other churches to assist them with a transformation process. 

Hurricane Ike - Two Years After

*Please click on photos to view enlargements*

Two years have passed but Ike’s memory is still vivid for those of us who lived on Bolivar Peninsula at the time. However, for many throughout the country there is no memory of Ike. Their response is “What hurricane was that?” Just tonight on television I heard that Ike is the most costly hurricane ever in U.S. history.

The reason for this ignorance, I think, is because Hurricane Katrina hogged all the publicity. When the National Government neglected Katrina’s victims in New Orleans, she became an immediate political and national issue which hangs on even today. A recent television program focused on New Orleans five years after Katrina.  

A second reason is that Hurricane Ike barreled on to our coast just when hopeful presidents and their running mates were vying for the highest offices in the land – Obama, Biden, McCain and especially Palin were grabbing the headlines.   So, Ike blew through our Peninsula when the national news was all about politics.  Add to that the apparent compassion fatigue of the nation after both Rita and Katrina.

Nevertheless, Ike is remembered by its victims if not by the nation.  He hit our shore at 2.10 a.m. on Saturday, September 13, 2008. He came in big and mean. The highest winds were 145 miles per hour. The wave he amassed on the ocean was about 18 feet high. This gigantic, powerful surge covered the Peninsula with water in a matter of moments and immediately took with it 3600 homes.  The other 2900 homes were left dangling from their pilings, many with roofs gone and insides tossed into the water.

The diameter of Ike before the storm was 421 miles. Because it was so powerful and so destructive, the name of Ike has been permanently retired and the next-named hurricane using “I” is Igor.  What a coincidence! As I watched the weather report today I saw that Igor is pushing into the western Atlantic after forming just off the coast of Africa. I hope history doesn’t repeat itself because that’s how Ike began two years ago – way out there on the other side of the world. From there we watched it creep across the Atlantic hoping it would not get to the Gulf of Mexico but turn harmlessly north without hitting the Atlantic Coast.  But it didn’t turn north. Rather it plunged into the Gulf with its warm water which caused it to grow it bigger and angrier.  Everyone along the Gulf Coast glued their eyes to every forecast hoping this giant hurricane would not hit their area. In wishing that, a lot of guilt feelings came also – you don’t want the hurricane to land where you live, yet you know you are wishing something powerful and destructive on someone else. At the last minute he aimed his fury directly at us on Bolivar Peninsula and I guess said “It’s your turn along with those who live hundreds of miles each way down the coast.”  Bolivar Peninsula became Ground Zero on 9/13.

Even as we drove off the Peninsula a couple of days before the storm, it was hard to believe that our home was going to take such a powerful hit – but it stood like Gibraltar, while thousands of others crumbled before Ike’s watery torrents, its wild tornados and its powerful winds.  What was left after this major assault was debris, some that piled up behind broken homes while the rest floated and sank in Galveston Bay. My golf cart and riding lawn mower became victims as the huge wave tore through my garage walls and hurled these expensive machines into the Bay less than a mile across a pasture in back of our house.  Before the storm this field hosted hungry, longhorn cattle.

I remember being one of the first ones back – of those who came by road.  I wondered how in the world this mess could ever be cleaned up.  The high water had pushed houses off their pilings and parked them in the middle of highway. The raging water had deposited sand that was at least three feet deep on much of the highways and roads.  My driveway was covered with deep sand and a sticky, black mud that clung to the cement as though the two had bonded. Some said the gooey, smelly stuff was from the bottom of the ocean while others said it was the sludge of septic tanks that belched up their innards at Ike’s command.

Many trees were gone while those still standing had been given the kiss of death because of the salt water. All the leaves had blown off the trees that still stood and they were replaced with gaudy plastic bags that clung to the branches like human survivors who hadn’t evacuated.

At night the workers left the Peninsula at 6 pm and didn’t return until 6 am the next morning .With the cleanup crews gone by dark, we often heard the sounds of silence after the sun sank below the cluttered horizon.  Without the moon it was like the beginning of time when darkness covered the face of the earth. Raccoons, looters and Game Wardens who were riding ATV’s were the only critters out and about. Game wardens were trying to reign in the wretches who tried to profit from our misfortunes by taking what wasn’t theirs. Since the police had the northeast end of the highway in High Island blocked, and with the ferry halting at sundown, the thieves came ashore by boat either on the Galveston Bay side of the Peninsula or the Gulf side.  Sometimes in the distance we could hear the crack of gunfire. We had no idea why there was occasional gun fire, but there was enough of it to be wary of what or who was out there in the darkness.

Until Christmas we lived without running water. We hauled water in jugs and gas in containers from High Island 15 miles away and over a bridge that Ike had partially removed.  Our sewer system didn’t work.  We put our camp stove on the deck where we cooked until wind and rain drove us inside. The noisy generator would only support a light, a refrigerator and a television set. However, cable went the way of Ike also, so we watched the one or two channels we could get with rabbit ears.

Slowly, very slowly, the clean-up crews inched forward.  Hoards of volunteers entered the Peninsula and slowly began to give us hope that one day there might be some semblance of the pre-Ike Bolivar Peninsula.  Utility companies worked overtime to hook us back to the umbilical cords of existence, the power company, the water company and the telephone company – which brought us internet and connected us once more to the whole world.  At the beginning what seemed impossible was slowly being altered by those who like ants kept persisting to get the work done and did.

The first Thanksgiving after Ike we celebrated with friends and family who had also returned and with others who drove in from Houston. We cooked the turkey in a deep fryer using propane gas.  We sent our guests to a neighbor’s port-a-potty. We thanked God for what we had, and we didn’t complain about what we lost. Our family was still together after the storm passed by and that was blessing enough.

After a year the area still looked like Rocky, a beat-up, naked victim of a mean hurricane.  Trees were still gone and the grass and weeds had vanished.  However, after two years, green has come back. Some grass has returned on its own, some lawns have been sodded, and the weeds that seem to have so little stress in adapting, are growing taller than ever.  The Houston Audubon Society planted free trees, particularly those that are native to the Peninsula and those whose fruit can feed the many species of birds who share our space.

Two years later cattle are starting to graze in the pastures on the Galveston Bay side of highway 87 which means cowboys, along with their horses, are returning.

Right now there is a building boom. The empty spaces made by Ike are filling with new homes.  I’m told it is because insurance has finally been paid on the lost structures and so houses are returning in significant numbers.

Businesses are back – and some new ones have taken a step of faith that this sea resort town known for its beaches and an ocean that at times sparkles like crystal will again be vibrant with people enjoying the wind, sand and water.

In the midst of the devastation and rebuilding, two organizations have done outstanding work taking care of those on the bottom of the heap.  Catholic Charities moved an office over from Galveston and helped people who were down to their bare billfolds. Many were assisted with rent, furniture, electric bills, and water charges. 

Bolivar Peninsula Community Outreach was the other.  Soon after the hurricane, semi-loads of food were making weekly runs to Crystal Beach, thanks to Gleenings from the Harvest located in Galveston and the Houston Food Bank.  Long lines of people came every week to get food to keep hunger at bay.

BPCO also leased the old Methodist Church in Crystal Beach and with the help of volunteers, a new food pantry was prepared and a used clothing store was readied to provide affordable, clean duds for those who lost their wardrobes to the storm and for kids who needed clothing for the new school year.

A very positive part of the Peninsula’s recovery would not be complete without mentioning the thousands of volunteers, almost entirely from Christian organizations and church congregations, who did most of the “dirty work” at the beginning of the cleanup and later pitched in with the restoration of homes.

The local churches not only held services regularly even before cleanup began, but they and other, outside denominations played a major role in our turn-a-round.  Denominations that made sizeable contributions with money and people power were the Church of Christ, the Baptists, the Roman Catholics, the Reformed Church of America, the Presbyterian Church USA, Nehemiah’s Vision and the Interfaith Group known as the Galveston County Restore and Rebuild. Without this Christian and interfaith presence in the midst of Ike recovery, much less would have been accomplished and a less positive outlook would have been generated. I heard one person who lost their home say to a volunteer, “You give us hope.”  God’s people from all over the nation did an impressive thing among us on Bolivar Peninsula and I thank them from the very bottom of my heart.

So, I could end at this point. All is well at the Beach! The effects of Ike are going away! The Peninsula is rising from its ashes!  But it’s not the whole story. As in everything there is a part of recovery that we do not see and is not measured. But, it affects us nevertheless. Like, whatever happened to the millions of dollars that were a part of the Government HUD grants?  Millions were set aside for housing for the poor and uninsured, those who lost everything in Ike.  Hundreds applied. They were screened by two separate sets of social workers for eligibility.  But the money didn’t come.  Building was supposed to commence last summer of at the latest and all the money was to be spent by this September 30^th. Well, it wasn’t spent and no homes were built because the money never came.   

This time, from what I hear, the national government may not be to blame.  I’m told that the State of Texas might be. Eighty-eight counties were declared a disaster area in Texas after Ike and when the HUD funds were announced over a year ago, some, if not most of these county governments didn’t like the amount given to housing. They wanted more money for infra-structure, so they protested HUD’s designations.  I’m not sure who won or lost at this point but I do know the delay took almost another year out of people’s lives. Many are still living in trailers.

Others are still living in communities around the State, hoping against hope they will win this government lottery and be one of those chosen to have a home built for them. The important thing is that as of right now there is only a short time, a couple of weeks in fact, to build these hundreds of homes.  Will there be an extension for the use of HUD monies?  Ironically that decision must come today on this anniversary of Ike’s visit – today, yes today!.  And believe it or not, for the extension to take place, it will take an act of Congress, so says the Galveston Daily News. If the deadline is not extended, I’m going to ask the Old Testament Prophet Amos to speak on our behalf to the politicians responsible for this delay – and maybe even great loss. We need justice! Right now it is justice delayed.

Yes, probably the time to spend the money will be extended. But, at this writing, there is still a lot that is unknown about the future for many families who have been waiting, waiting, waiting, and waiting!

Another question is, “Why aren’t people coming back?”  There are multiple reasons but let me note just one. Many are flat-out afraid to return.  Their face to face encounter with Ike instilled fear in them and if another potent hurricane picks the Peninsula, they want to be far away on high ground. Adding to that fear, the State has not adequately repaired highway 87 going northeast off the Peninsula.  High tides and passing tropical storms, even though they are hundreds of miles away, quickly inundate the highway causing the State to close the road at Rollover Pass.  Right now, if there is a high wind, a heavy rain, or a high tide, there is only one way off the Peninsula – the ferry to Galveston.

There is one other unseen and unmeasured effect of Ike - the stress on those who have stayed the course and those who are no longer in the race to recovery. A woman passed away earlier this week. Although not the cause of her death, shortly after Ike she was hit with rheumatoid arthritis.  A year and a half later she was in a wheel chair. Her obituary said, “She always blamed that on Hurricane Ike.” Wikipedia says it is possible that this illness was caused by stress.

Has the stress caused by Ike just led to a few headaches, a few sleepless nights, a day or two of depression, or is what one physician called “stress disease” the cause of the more serious mental and physical illnesses we see in our community? I have no data one way or the other because no measurement of that is being taken. My guess is however that “stress disease” has caused more illness and suffering than we can even imagine.

We have no public, mental health clinics on the Peninsula, and there are no psychiatrists or psychologists who have hung out their shingle.  The people who live here full time are a hardy bunch and probably wouldn’t see a shrink even if there was one available.  I think the common perception is that they cost money that those who could use them don’t have.

Our family has undergone a lot of stress. Our daughter and her family lost a beach house.  Our son lost his home. We have been working for two years with the homeless and the poor Ike left on the Peninsula and quite often their stories heartbreaking. Over a long period of time, the stories wear on us especially when there seems to be no solutions for their problems and government moves more slowly than the endangered sea turtles we are asked to save. So, at two years and counting, I’m done reporting for a while on the progress and lack of progress.  I’m going to quit stress-causing- activity for a time because I am wondering if my own illnesses are in any way related to these tough, two years.

In a place without mental health facilities, I recommend regular worship. I know one of the most helpful times of the weekly worship service I attend is when I hear “And may the peace of Christ be with you.” I need the response of the One I worship and serve to speak in the silence of my sometimes confused mind and frequent, raw emotions, “My peace I give to you.” I have found that to be good therapy for “stress disease.”

As I end this essay, Igor is now a category four hurricane out in the Atlantic – moving toward the U.S.  I don’t want anyone to suffer at the hands of this new menace. If it went north up the Atlantic away from the coast, it would be fine with me.  If it should scramble its way into the Gulf, we will need your prayers.  We have been stressed for too long. We need a period of peace and tranquility.

--Gene Straatmeyer B.A., M.Div., D.Min.

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BIKE PROJECT DECLARED A SUCCESS
	With many thanks to the congregation, our ‘Bike Project’ was an awesome success.    As a result of the outstanding response and generous donations, we will be sending $1380 to purchase bicycles in the Congo.
This is the equivalent of just over 17 bikes!  We are proud to be part of a family of believers who truly follow the teachings of Jesus to “Love one another”. Thank you,  Glenda Woodburn and Ruth Smith, Project Chairs - Oahe Presbyterian Women

Sept 26---Peace, Praise, and Pass the Pancakes The worship service on Sept 26th was in honor of the peacemaking offering.   OPC’s small praise band performed as the choir and congregation sang peace songs from the 60’s and 70’s.  The worship service was followed by a pancake and sausage/bacon breakfast with proceeds from the breakfast being donated to Camp Rimrock for the purchase of new beds for the lodge.
Joe Nadenicek and Dennie Pfrimmer on guitar.  Margaret Ellefson on piano.	Ron Woodburn on percussion	Preparing for the breakfast crowd.

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A Logo with Purpose

The original Presbyterian Women's symbol, designed by Sarah Abbott in 1988, was updated in 1999 to carry the organization into the twenty-first century.  The cleaner lines and sharper image strengthen the original design while retaining its ability to visually express the Presbyterian Women purpose

Some Meanings Found in the PW Symbol

Forgiven and freed by God in Jesus Christ,
Forgiven and freed by grace through faith, the central figure stands in praise.

and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we commit ourselves:   Rooted in faith, the trio of women emerge. The outline of the central figure forms a cross. We are Presbyterian women, engrafted in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us.

to nurture our faith through prayer and Bible study,
The right figure holds a book to guide her reading, studying, praying or meditating.

to support the mission of the church worldwide,
The left figure reaches out to care for others, as she shares, nurtures and heals. The circle represents the church worldwide where women offer their gifts and talents in the midst of the global community.

to work for justice and peace,  The uplifted arms of the central figure reach out to embrace a just peace for the world. The relationship between the three figures depicts lives of wholeness rather than turmoil.

and to build an inclusive, caring, community of women  The three women have no distinct features and represent all women. The shapes surrounding them express energy, strength and openness.

that strengthens the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Our name, Presbyterian Women, ties us to our denomination. The Bible resembles the Bible depicted in the PC(USA) seal.

and witnesses to the promise of God's Kingdom.
Guided by the PW Purpose, Presbyterian Women witnesses to the reality of God’s present realm

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PW Holds 25th Annual Retreat at Camp Rimrock Nine PW members attended this fall’s retreat at Camp Rimrock.  Kate Nelson led the worship on Saturday morning and Meleta DeJong introduced this year’s Horizon’s Bible study on the book of Revelation and led the first lesson.  Margaret Ellefson and Glenda Woodburn led the group in singing.  Saturday was a cold and windy day but on Sunday the son shone in all its glory and the day was a beautiful fall day.   Those who were lucky enough to be able to stay at the camp until Monday toured Spearfish Canyon to check out the fall colors which were almost at their peak.  A beautiful day and a beautiful drive.  The ladies enjoyed a weekend of fellowship as three of the participants came from out of Pierre to join the retreat.  Veloris Christiansen joined us from Viborg, SD and Peggy Meyer and Mary Sherman flew in from Reno, Nevada to participate.
	<< Back: Margaret Ellefson, Kate Nelson, Glenda Woodburn, Veloris Christiansen, Meleta DeJong.    << Front: Cindy Droppers, Peggy Meyer, Mary Sherman and Mary Jenner >> Special guests